World War II airman killed after being shot down laid to rest 80 years later

GLENWOOD, Iowa (KMTV) – More than 80 years after his death, a World War II soldier has been laid to rest.

Second Lt. Blaine Wilcox was killed in action while serving in Europe, but his remains were only recently identified.

A funeral was held for him on Tuesday in his Iowa hometown of Glenwood.

Wilcox was a bombardier on a B-17 when it was shot down over present-day Poland. He was buried in an unmarked grave.

Wilcox’s niece Lois Aistrope is his closest surviving relative and one of only a few living family members who knew him.

She said she remembers her uncles playing catch, and Aistrope said she was the ball.

“One time, one of them missed and I went out the window,” she said.

Since learning the news that her uncle’s remains were identified by the forensics lab at Offutt Air Force Base, Aistrope said she had been thinking of her grandmother, who lost two sons in the war, and her mother, her uncle’s older sister.

“If my mom could be here and see what’s happening, she would just … be unreal,” she said. “Things don’t happen like that very often.”

The family said they first thought calls from the military about the discovery of Wilcox’s remains were a hoax.

For funeral home owners Georganne and Roger Williams, caring for the long-missing remains was something new.

“They chose today because that was the day he passed away,” Georganne Williams said.

Wilcox’s family, spread out over several states, reunited in Iowa to bury a relative most of them never knew.

“It’s wonderful. Just too bad he’s not here,” Aistrope said.

Because he was an Army Air Corps officer, Wilcox’s ceremony was conducted by the Army with participation from the American Legion and Patriot Guard Riders.