WWII veteran returned home to Seaside almost 8 decades after his death in the Pacific
SEASIDE – The remains of a World War II sailor returned home to the Bay Area Thursday nearly 79 years after he was killed in action.
The Navy veteran died while flying over the Pacific during a mission against Japanese forces. His remains were finally found in 2019.
Wilbur Archie Mitts was part of a three-member aircrew. Their the plane was last seen spinning violently before crashing into the water a few hundred feet from Malakal Island. One year later, Mitts was declared killed in action and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
In 2019, an organization called Project Recover finally found the remains of the plane just off Malakal Island. On Thursday, his body arrived at San Jose's Mineta Airport.
From there, it was driven down Highway 101 to his hometown of Seaside, just north of Monterey. The organization Honoring Our Fallen asked people to line the route with flags to honor Mitts. For nearly 80 years, the family of Wilbur Mitts has been waiting for the moment they could finally say goodbye.
"It's something I never expected to do," said his niece, Diana Ward. "This was a longtime coming."
Ward, his oldest surviving relative said even though she was born three days after he died, her Uncle Wilbur's memory always loomed large.
"We grew up around all of Wilbur's pictures and his belongings," she said.
Mitts will be buried on September 11 in Seaside at the Mission Memorial Park Cemetery.
