FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. George J. (Bud) Reuter, a soldier killed during World War II, will be interred July 29 at Sunset Memorial Park, North Olmsted.
Sunset Funeral and Cremation Services, North Olmsted, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.
A native of Westlake, Reuter was a navigator assigned to the 328th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force.
He was serving aboard a B-24 Liberator aircraft Aug. 1, 1943, when it crashed after being hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania.
Reuter was 25 years old. His remains could not be identified following the war. Remains that could not be identified were buried as unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command, tasked with recovering fallen American personnel, disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification. More than 80 unknowns could not be identified and were interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for soldiers from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses, sending the remains to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.
Reuter was accounted for by the DPAA Jan. 10, 2023.
For additional information about 1st Lt. Reuter, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3272067/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-reuter-g/
To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call 703-699-1420/1169.