Description
Today, we are honored to stand at the airport as the family of a World War II hero receives him home at last.
U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Adolph P. Aguirre was just 21 years old, serving as an assistant radio operator aboard a B-24 Liberator, when his bomber was shot down on August 16, 1943, during a mission against the San Nicola airfield near Foggia, Italy. His plane was one of 25 B-24s in the formation that day; nine were lost to intense anti-aircraft fire. Aguirre never returned.
With the crash site under enemy control, Allied forces couldn't search for survivors. No evidence ever surfaced that he had survived or been captured, and postwar searches failed to recover his remains. In 1950, he was officially declared non-recoverable.
Decades later, investigators began examining unidentified remains recovered near Lacedonia, Italy. Five sets were exhumed and sent to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory, where anthropological and dental analysis, circumstantial evidence, and DNA testing finally provided an answer. On May 29, 2026, Sgt. Aguirre was accounted for.
83 years after he went missing, Sergeant Aguirre is finally home. On September 18, he will be laid to rest in his hometown of Exeter, California, beside the parents who spent their lives never knowing what became of their son. Their long wait — and his — is over.
We are honored to have walked beside this family today, welcoming their hero back to American soil.
We are deeply grateful to the Fresno Airport Police, TSA, USO, Airport Fire, the California Army National Guard, the California Army National Guard Honor Guard, and the Army Casualty Assistance Branch for their incredible support on the airfield. This homecoming would not have been possible without you.
Welcome home, Hero. 🇺🇸
#WWII #Aviation #USAAF