{"id":32158,"date":"2018-06-17T23:06:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T23:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/17\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:03:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:03:45","slug":"wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/06\/17\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\/","title":{"rendered":"WWII pilot missing since 1944 laid to rest at Arlington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BIRMINGHAM, Ala. \u2014 Second Lt. Robert R. Keown was piloting his P-38 aircraft to an airfield after a mission in 1944 when it crashed into a mountain in Papua New Guinea. World War II ended without Keown\u2019s family knowing what had happened to him, and the military later declared him dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decades later, a villager found human remains in a swampy area near the mountain. Another resident of the Pacific island snapped a photo of the rusted wreckage of a warplane years after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/military-honor\/2018\/06\/05\/expansion-of-arlington-national-cemetery-to-open-soon-with-6000-pre-dug-graves\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"175\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/arlington-expansion.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Expansion of Arlington National Cemetery to open soon with 6,000 pre-dug graves<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The 27-acre space is expected to give the cemetery capacity into the 2040s.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With all those puzzle pieces finally assembled and through the help of genetic testing, remains of the Georgia native and Alabama resident are now back on U.S. soil. Relatives gathered at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., on Friday afternoon for the long-delayed funeral of Keown (pronounced Cow-uhn).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI expect to be overwhelmed,\u201d said nephew John Keown, 62, of Decatur, Alabama, speaking ahead of the burial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"825\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18166681774117.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18166681774117.jpg.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18166681774117.jpg.jpg?resize=300,242 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18166681774117.jpg.jpg?resize=768,619 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. Army Capt. Christopher Blanchard presents the flag from the casket of  Army 2nd Lt. Robert R. Keown to John F. Keown, during the burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Friday, June 15, 2018. Keown was piloting his P-38 aircraft when it crashed in Papua New Guinea in 1944. (Jose Luis Magana\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ceremony included a flag-draped coffin that was folded up and given to John Keown and an honor guard for the fallen P-38 pilot, who grew up near Atlanta in Lawrenceville, Georgia, before moving to the northern Alabama city of Scottsboro. Keown was 24 and serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces, the predecessor to today\u2019s Air Force, when he died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keown\u2019s remains arrived Thursday at Washington\u2019s Reagan National Airport, said Justin Taylan of Pacific Wrecks , a nonprofit contractor that searches for the remains of missing service members in conjunction with the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/03\/08\/vets-groups-oppose-new-restrictions-on-arlington-cemetery-burials-but-army-officials-see-few-other-options\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4068709.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Vets groups oppose new burial restrictions on Arlington Cemetery, but officials see few options<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Army officials say expansion plans at the 154-year-old cemetery will only allow burials to last into the late 2040s, requiring more drastic steps.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 400,000 Americans died in World War II, and the Pentagon says nearly 73,000 of them remain unaccounted for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keown was among that number until November, when DNA testing proved that skeletal remains found in Papua New Guinea were his. That confirmation, combined with photos of the wreckage, allowed the Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency to remove Keown from the list of the missing, but it\u2019s still unclear what happened in the crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe pilot probably bailed out, but we don\u2019t know,\u201d said Taylan. \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to say exactly how he died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon said Keown was flying one of four aircraft of the 36th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group on a mission to locate a missing B-25 bomber when the weather turned bad and the fighters headed to an auxiliary airfield on April 16, 1944. Keown was declared missing after the planes failed to return. Two other planes also disappeared; Taylan said their pilots remain missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"723\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18166679627477.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18166679627477.jpg.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18166679627477.jpg.jpg?resize=300,212 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18166679627477.jpg.jpg?resize=768,542 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An Army team carries the casket of U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Robert R. Keown to the burial site at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Friday, June 15, 2018. Keown was piloting his P-38 aircraft when it crashed in Papua New Guinea in 1944. (Jose Luis Magana\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The war ended with Keown\u2019s whereabouts still unknown, and the Pentagon declared him dead on Feb. 7, 1946, according to a release from Defense. The loss and uncertainty over his fate were devastating to the family, said John Keown, the son of one of the pilot\u2019s younger brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey were torn up for a couple of years not knowing what had happened to him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 50 years later, in 1999, the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery gave the Army human remains a farmer had found on his land in the 1980s and reburied in a village cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/03\/31\/no-more-burials-at-arlington-in-25-years-famed-cemetery-is-running-out-of-space\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/arlington-cemetery-fall.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">No more burials at Arlington in 25 years? Famed cemetery is running out of space<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Officials say expansion projects won&#039;t be enough, and new burial eligibility rules for veterans may be needed. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2005, Taylan said, another man in New Guinea provided photos of plane wreckage near the site where the remains were first found. A photo included a serial number that was used to confirm the plane was Keown\u2019s, Taylan said, and DNA testing of the remains finally tied everything together last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Keown and other nieces and nephews are the pilot\u2019s closest remaining relatives. His father died in 1937 and his mother in 1979. Keown\u2019s two brothers also died, the most recent in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Keown\u2019s remains are interred at Arlington, the wreckage of his aircraft remains on a mountainside where it was found, said Taylan. Keown\u2019s name has been added to a memorial that was previously erected in the village near the crash site, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA boy from Alabama has a monument in Papua New Guinea,\u201d said Taylan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Second Lt. Robert R. Keown was piloting his P-38 aircraft to an airfield after a mission in 1944 when it crashed into a mountain in Papua New Guinea. World War II ended without Keown\u2019s family knowing what had happened to him, and the military later declared him dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":65659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2887],"class_list":["post-32158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"YHI26TBAIJGGLDEJHZVQRPOVDQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/06\/17\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>WWII pilot missing since 1944 laid to rest at Arlington - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Second Lt. Robert R. Keown was piloting his P-38 aircraft to an airfield after a mission in 1944 when it crashed into a mountain in Papua New Guinea. World War II ended without Keown\u2019s family knowing what had happened to him, and the military later declared him dead.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WWII pilot missing since 1944 laid to rest at Arlington\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Second Lt. Robert R. Keown was piloting his P-38 aircraft to an airfield after a mission in 1944 when it crashed into a mountain in Papua New Guinea. World War II ended without Keown\u2019s family knowing what had happened to him, and the military later declared him dead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/06\/17\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Army Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-17T23:06:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T21:03:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jay Reeves, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jay Reeves, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"WWII pilot missing since 1944 laid to rest at Arlington\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2018-06-17T23:06:57+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T21:03:45+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 760,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18164704474910.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"News\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Your Army\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"WWII pilot missing since 1944 laid to rest at Arlington - Army Times\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/news\\\/your-army\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/17\\\/wwii-pilot-missing-since-1944-laid-to-rest-at-arlington\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18164704474910.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2018-06-17T23:06:57+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T21:03:45+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Second Lt. 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