Lt William B. Montgomery
Rank or other affiliation:
- First Lieutenant
Bomber group:
- 489th BG, Halesworth
Burial/memorial information:
- Date of burial: September 13, 2023
- Cemetery and location: Arlington National Cemetery — 1 Memorial Ave, Arlington, VA 22211
- Rosette placement information: Rosette placed on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, England.
- Heritage League member involvement: HL Board members Christopher Clark and Doug Dovey attended. Chris presented a booklet with information about the Montgomery Crew.
Lt William B. Montgomery's story
Lt. Montgomery was pilot of the B-24H Liberator (serial number 42-94826), nicknamed Wolf Pack, on a mission over Saint-Cyr airfield in France on June 22, 1944. The aircraft was struck by anti-aircraft fire, allowing seven crew members to bail out safely near the English coast, but Montgomery and two others remained aboard as it crashed in West Sussex, England.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In November 1947, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site, but they did not discover the remains of any other crewmembers. Montgomery was declared non-recoverable May 10, 1950.
A local aviation archaeology group attempted to excavate the crash site in 1974, to search for aircraft parts. A number of DPAA investigation and recovery efforts took place in 2017 and 2019, with a June 2021 recovery mission finding possible human remains and material evidence.
To identify Montgomery’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), analysis.
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