Missing PA Airman's World War II Remains Finally Identified

PITTSBURGH, PA — An Air Force technical sergeant from the Pittsburgh who died in World War II will be coming home after his remains finally were identified.

Paul Eshelman, who was 21 when he went unaccounted for in the summer of 1943, will be buried in Allison Park, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Eshelman was a radio operator on a plane that was shot down in Romania. His remains were not identified following the war and his unidentified remains were buried there.

Eshelman was killed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, which successfully damaged Piloiești oil refineries but resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Air Force airmen.

In 2017, the accounting agency began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with
unaccounted-for airmen from the mission in which Eshelman was on. Those remains were taken to a laboratory for examination and identification.

To identify Eshelman’s remains, scientists from the accounting agency used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used DNA analysis.

While Eshelman was accounted for in September 2023, information on him was delayed until his family received a full briefing on his identification.