Remains Of Brookline Airman Lost In WWII Returned

BROOKLINE, MA — Some 72 years ago, Brookline WWII airman Richard Horwitz went missing after a bombing mission, and was believed to have died in Austria along with 10 others when their plane went down. His name graces the war monument in front of Town Hall featuring those killed in action from Brookline in World War II.

But it wasn't until recently that the plane and later his remains were identified. On Wednesday evening, Oct. 11, the remains of Second Lt. Richard Horwitz were finally returned to Massachusetts.

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State and Brookline Police escorted Horwitz's remains from Logan Airport to the local funeral home Wednesday evening. Representatives at the funeral home told Patch that the family asked for privacy during this time ahead of a private funeral that is slated to take place for the man who died in the line of duty in 1945 at just 22 years old.

The Secretary of Military affairs for the state and several family members are scheduled to be in attendance at the funeral Sunday. The plan is for a relatively private ceremony. There will be a chapel ceremony remembrance and then his remains will be buried near family in a cemetery in West Roxbury.

"They're incredibly proud of their relative and the legacy he left," said Bill McGroarty of the Brookline Veterans Services. "But they're not making a big public deal about it."

Horwitz served as a Second Lieutenant and Radar Navigator on a B-24 in the 716th Bomber Squadron, 449th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.

His plane took off from Grottaglie Army Air Base, Italy on a bombing mission over the Isarc-Albes railroad bridge in northern Italy in 1945. After a successful bombing run, two engines were damaged by ground anti-aircraft fire and they crashed near Lake Wiezen in Austria, according to Russ Pickett who curates the reports of those missing in action.

The planes involved in the bombing were supposed to head back to a rally point, but one aircraft was seen skimming the mountain tops with at least two damaged engines. The plane was last seen near Lake Wiezen in Austria. No parachutes were seen exiting the aircraft. Based on this information, Horwitz was reported missing in action, according to the military account.

Horwitz was first declared "Missing In Action" in this crash during the war. But it wasn't until 2015 when remains were recovered and sent to a lab in Hawaii, according to McGroarty. The Associated Press reported the wreckage was by an Italian citizen off the coast of Grado, Italy in 2013, and remains were recovered in 2015 from the underwater site. The veteran's services officer said the military then reached out to family members for DNA samples to help identify the remains, which they were able to do earlier this year.

His status has been changed from "Missing in Action" to "Killed In Action" and a special symbol will be placed in front of his name at a marker at the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial to signify that his remains were recovered.

Horwitz was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart, according to Pickett.

His father Benjamin E. Horwitz and his mother Lillian who lived in Brookline with Horwitz and his two brothers have both since passed away, but his cousin Joyce Schwartz told NPR she was happy to have this chapter come to a close.

McGroarty said the town will likely fly a special flag in honor of the WWII hero after his internment.

We honor our war dead individually when they come home and, in a more general way, collectively thereafter, said Town Meeting Member Neil Gordon who served in the U.S. Navy.

"It is the passage of time that reverberates here; seventy-two years later, it is not too late, it's never too late, to honor and remember, individually, a fallen soldier's homecoming," Gordon told the Patch.

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• Photos of the Brookline War Monument at Town Hall by Jenna Fisher/Patch