Grafton WWII pilot accounted for almost 80 years after being shot down in Europe

GRAFTON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The remains of a pilot from Southeast Wisconsin who was killed in World War II have now been identified.

The Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency announced on Friday, Dec. 16 that U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Roy C. Harms of Grafton was officially accounted for on Aug. 2.

The B-24 Liberator bomber that Harms was piloting in the summer of 1943 was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire before crashing in Romania. His remains were not identified following the war.

Remains that could not be identified were buried as 'unknowns' in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetary of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.

Scientists from the GPAA worked with other agencies to exhume unknowns for possible identification using anthropological analysis, circumstantial evidence, as well as mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.

Harms' name is currently recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will now be placed next to his name to indicate that he has been accounted for.

Harms will be buried in Grafton on a date that has yet to be determined.