DECEMBER 11, 2024 – New Jersey Army National Guard Soldiers carried the flag-draped coffin of a World War II Airman in a ceremony attended by family members, friends and state veteran organization representatives at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery Dec. 9.
Following a three-volley salute and the playing of Taps, U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. William Scott’s family was presented his awards. They included the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart Medal, American Campaign Medal, European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and his World War II navigator wings.
Scott served six months and six days of active service. He was 21 years old.
On Aug. 1, 1943, the Clifton, New Jersey, resident was serving as a navigator on a B-24 Liberator bomber, assigned to the 68th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force. His aircraft was one of 178 bombers that participated in Operation Tidal Wave.
Targeting Nazi-controlled Romanian territory, five B-24 bomb groups hit the nine most important Ploiești refineries. Romania produced 60% of the Axis’ crude oil and 27 to 35% of refined or synthetic oil.
The 98th and 376th Bombardment Groups, based in North Africa, and the 44th, 93rd and 389th Bombardment Groups from the Eighth Air Force in England participated in Operation Tidal Wave. Scott’s bomber was one of 54 aircraft shot down.
Scott’s remains, along with those of other American Airmen, were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiești, Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command, the organization that searches for and recovers fallen American personnel, disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery. The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns, and those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
Scott’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from World War II.
In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for Airmen from Operation Tidal Wave. These remains were sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.
To identify Scott’s remains, DPAA scientists used anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y chromosome DNA analysis.
On Nov. 28, 2022, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Scott’s remains had been identified.
On Dec. 9, 2024, Scott returned home.
In Italy, at the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
By Mark Olsen
New Jersey National Guard