Airman lost in World War II accounted for using DNA analysis

This circa 1940s photo released Monday, April 1, 2019, by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency shows Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Alfred R. Sandini, of Marlborough, Mass., who died during World War II when his plane crashed in February, 1944, in what is now Vietnam. Sandini was accounted for in February 2019 after his remains were positively identified using scientific and material evidence. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency via AP)
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BOSTON — An airman from Massachusetts who died during World War II when his plane crashed in Southeast Asia has been accounted for using DNA evidence.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Monday that U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Alfred Sandini, of Marlborough, was accounted for earlier this year using dental, anthropological and DNA analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

The agency says the 25-year-old Sandini was a radio gunner aboard a B-25C Mitchell bomber that crashed in February 1944, most likely due to enemy anti-aircraft fire in what was then known as French Indochina, and is now Vietnam.

His remains were initially buried at the American Military Cemetery in Kunming, China, before being moved to Schofield Mausoleum in Hawaii. They were disinterred last August and sent to a lab for analysis.