George McCullen Johnson

nited States Army Air Corps Pilot, Second Lieutenant George McCullen Johnson, accounted for on December 16, 2019, will be buried TBD in cemetery in delaware. Lt. Johnson, age 24, of Seaford, DE, was killed in an airplane crash during World War II. George was born in Seaford, DE, May 8, 1920, the beloved son of Mary Alice Johnson Tull and James Everett Johnson, brother of Edna Johnson Starr and Mary Evelyn Johnson Christopher. Uncle of Judi (John) Christopher Harrison Thoroughgood and famil, Chris (Jennifer) Harrison, Chris Jr, Zachary and Noah Harrison, Abigail and Kelsey Crown and Cadie Scruggs. Janet Starr (John) DeCristofaro and sons Jeff and Justin (Lynda) DeCristofaro. Two first cousins, Stanley Tull and Peggy Tull Clayville. George grew up in Seaford, DE, played football on his high school team Second Lieutenant Johnson joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from Delaware and was a member of the 819th Bomb Squadron– who was re-assigned to the 38th Bombardment Squadron, 30th Bombardment Group (Heavy). On January 21, 1944, he was the co-pilot aboard a B-24J Liberator (serial number 42-72999) that took off from Helen Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, carrying nine other crew members. Just after takeoff, three miles past the runway's end, the aircraft suddenly crashed into a lagoon and sank. All ten crew aboard the Liberator were killed in the crash. The remains of five individuals were reportedly recovered and buried in the Main Marine Cemetery, later renamed Cemetery 33, on Betio Island; however, 2LT Johnson was not initially identified among those recovered remains. In 2009, the non-profit organization History Flight located and recovered remains from a site on Betio Island, later identified as Cemetery 33. At the same time, DPAA began reinvestigating unidentified remains previously recovered from Tarawa. In 2019, scientific analysis revealed that a set of remains recovered from Tarawa and identified in 1946 had been misidentified. These remains were disinterred from Acacia Park Cemetery, New York, and sent to the DPAA Laboratory where scientific analysis led to the association of the remains with another set of coffin burials recovered from Cemetery 33 in 2017. Forensic analysis and circumstantial evidence allowed for the identification of 2LT Johnson from among these collective remains. DPAA is grateful to History Flight, Inc. for their partnership in this recovery.