WWII pilot vanished over Egypt in 1942; family buries him 84 years later
Captain Marvin Lancaster, a WWII pilot who went missing in 1942, has finally been laid to rest in North Carolina. His remains were identified decades later, bringing closure to his surviving family members.
Why it matters
This story highlights the ongoing efforts of military recovery programs to identify and return missing service members to their families, providing historical closure.
More than eight decades after his death during World War II, Captain Marvin Lancaster has been laid to rest in Vanceboro, North Carolina alongside his parents. Family, friends and fellow service members gathered in Epworth Methodist Church to lay Lancaster to rest on Friday. “Right now, oddly enough, I’m feeling relief,” Lancaster’s nephew Jerry Brown said, as per a report by WITN. “The road has come to an end, and Marvin will be here. That’s where he belongs, with his brothers and his parents and his grandparents.”He arrived in a flag-draped casket, carried by airmen and Marines young enough to be his great-grandchildren, and when they laid him down, the younger brother Lancaster last knew as a 2-year-old boy hobbled over on a cane and dropped a carnation in a tribute.
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