SPOKANE — The remains of a Spokane airman whose plane was shot down over Germany during World War II were identified with DNA testing last fall, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Tuesday.
U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. James M. Triplett served as radio operator on a B-24 Liberator bomber. His plane was shot during a large mission on Sept. 27, 1944 to bomb the industrial city Kassel in central Germany.
Several of the crew aboard Triplett’s aircraft were able to bail out and witnesses who survived did not report seeing him escape the aircraft. Six of the nine crew members were killed.
German ground and air forces destroyed 25 Liberators during the mission.
Triplett’s body was not recovered and Germany never reported him as a prisoner of war. The War Department issued a finding of death on Sept. 28, 1945.
He was 36 years old.
His remains were confirmed on Oct. 25, 2022, but his family only recently received a full briefing on his identification.
After the war, the American Graves Registration Command discovered the crash site outside of Richelsdorf, Germany, and recovered two sets of human remains, but they were unable to be identified at the time. They were buried at Luxembourg American Cemetery in Belgium and the North Africa American Cemetery in Tunis, Tunisia.
Recently, DPAA historians identified these remains as strong candidates for Triplett. They were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
To identify Triplett’s remains, DPAA scientists used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome DNA analysis.
The other remains were identified as 2nd Lt. Porter M. Pile of Missouri, who was a navigator on the bomber.
Triplett was born and raised in Spokane. He lived in a house on the 400 block of West 15th Avenue on the South Hill and attended Roosevelt Elementary and Lewis and Clark High School. He then attended the University of Idaho, according to an obituary published in The Spokesman-Review.
He was the son of prominent Spokane banker William Thomas Tripplett Sr., who was senior vice president of the Spokane and Eastern branch of the Seattle First National Bank and later became president of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce.
Triplett was survived by his wife, Jacqueline (Lowery) Triplett, who was living in Seattle during 1944.
Triplett’s name is listed on a World War II memorial plaque at Lewis and Clark High School in the main entrance vestibule.
His name is also recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Luxembourg American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Luxembourg, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Triplett was assigned to the 700ths Bombardment Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force.
He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, on Oct. 31, 2023.
