Soldier died nearly 80 years ago during World War II. His remains were just identified
Nearly eight decades ago, Merle L. Pickup, 27, boarded a B-24J Liberator “on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India” during World War II, according to military officials.
The United States Army Air Forces corporal, from Provo, Utah, was one of 10 to walk aboard that day in May 1944 who would not make it home, according to Honor States.
As a result of bad weather, “the plane never made it to its destination,” the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said in an Oct. 28 news release.
The plane was reported missing, and Pickup was declared missing in action that same month, according to Honor States.
For 78 years, Pickup’s whereabouts were unknown until his remains were finally identified on July 20, DPAA said.
FINDING and IDENTIFYING PICKUP
After the war, the American Graves Registration Service twice tried to reach the crash site in 1947, DPAA said, but it was unsuccessful.
“December that year, the AGRS determined reaching the site was too dangerous and the remains of the crew, including Pickup, be declared non-recoverable,” according to the agency.
Decades later, in 2008 and 2010, a “third-party wreck hunter” found and visited the crash site, the agency said. There, the hunter “reported seeing aircraft wreckage, military equipment, and possible human remains.”
The Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, confirmed in 2014 that the photos of the wreckage from 2010 were of a B-24, according to the agency.
In 2019, “Abor Country, an Indian travel and expedition company,” trekked to the site, the agency said. They collected evidence, as well as “recovered possible human remains.”
Those remains were turned over to Southeastern Archaeological Research and then to the Indian government before finally making it back to the United States in March 2022 after delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said.
DPAA scientists used “dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence” and DNA analysis to identify Pickup’s remains, the agency said.
HONORS
Pickup was honored with a number of commendations, including the Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal and Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, according to Honor States.
Pickup is one of more than 2,000 Americans “who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945,” according to the nonprofit American War Memorials Overseas.
“He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China,” the nonprofit said.
Pickup’s name is also listed on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, according to DPAA.
“A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for,” DPAA said.
After decades of being away from home, Pickup will be buried in Provo in December, according to the agency.
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Soldier died nearly 80 years ago during World War II. His remains were just identified."
