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Remains of a Texas WWII pilot identified, finally coming home

Shoup Photo 1.jpeg
Shoup Crew Photo 1.jpg
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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that they recently identified the remains of U.S. Army Air Force 1st Lt. and Dublin native Noel E. Shoup.

According to a release from DPAA, Shoup was piloting a Boeing B-17F "Flying Fortress" on Feb. 28, 1944 when it was shot down by anti-aircraft guns in France.

Witnesses at the time said three of the airmen survived the crash and seven were killed.

German forces found six sets of remains near Wiammeville, France but the seventh body wasn't recovered until September 2017, when a French research team found the crash site.

Shoup was presumed as killed in action, because his body was never recovered. He was also never recorded as a prisoner of war.

The release states that the War Department issued a "finding of death" on July 14, 1945.

Researchers were able to use dental and anthropological analysis to finally identify the remains found at the crash site as Shoup on April 6, 2023.

He will be buried in his hometown on September 11, 2023.

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