Oct. 12—In August 1943, Sgt. Paul F. Eshelman Jr., a 21-year-old United States Army Air Forces tech from the North Side, was the radio operator on board the B-24 Liberator bomber Tagalong.
The aircraft came under enemy fire and crashed during Operation Tidal Wave, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries in Ploiesti, Romania. The Pittsburgh native was killed in action.
Following the war, his remains were not identified. Instead, they were buried in the hero section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery in Bolovan, Romania, according to a March 2024 news release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
But now, Eshelman's remains have been accounted for. They were returned to Pittsburgh and buried at the Allegheny County Memorial Park Cemetery on Sunday.
The American Graves Registration Command, which searches for and recovers fallen American personnel, eventually removed all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery. The staff was unable to identify over 80 unknowns and interred them at the Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium.
In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began exhuming the remains of these unknowns, which were believed to be associated with unaccounted-for airmen from the Tidal Wave operation. Around the same time, the organization reached out to Paul Derstine, Eshelman's nephew.
"They said that they thought they may have recovered his remains and they needed a DNA sample from my sister and myself to confirm the identity," said Mr. Derstine, a 68-year-old resident of Charlottesville, Va.. "So we gave them swabs and a bit later, they reached out to us to let us know that it was a false alarm."
Mr. Derstine and his sister, Lesa Ann Naughton of Lexington, S.C., gave the agency swabs for testing. Though the result originally indicated that those remains were not of Eshelman, the DNA samples were eventually matched with remains and the former sergeant was officially identified and accounted for on Sept. 27, 2023.
"It was a complete surprise for us because we had no idea that this was going on," Mr. Derstine said.
To identify Eshelman's remains, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency used dental and anthropological analysis, and experts from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
Once Eshelman was officially identified, it was up to Mr. Derstine and his sister to decide how to bury his remains.
"My mother, who was his youngest sister six years younger than Paul, and my grandmother are both buried in Allegheny County Memorial Park Cemetery, and my sister thought it would be nice if we buried him with family," Mr. Derstine said. "And so we decided to do that."
The family held a visitation event at H.P. Brandt Funeral Home off of Perry Highway from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, followed by a police escort and burial at 3:30 p.m. At the visitation, family gathered to view Eshelman's casket, military accolades and other memorabilia.
Some of the featured photos included pictures of his journal, which was preserved by his brother Richard Eshelman and passed down to Christine Bodnar, Eshelman's niece.
Though Mrs. Bodnar never knew Eshelman personally, she said reading his journal and seeing pictures of him during the war "brought him to life."
For instance, on April 17, 1943, Eshelman wrote that he had a cold beer for his 21st birthday.
"I think that's why I'm all weepy today. It's like, 'why am I crying about someone I never knew?' " Mrs. Bodnar said.
Mark Eshelman, vice president of sales for college ratings site Niche.com and Mrs. Bodnar's brother, said it was interesting to read Eshelman's journal because he seemed "nonplussed" about the war and the fighting he was involved in.
"[He] was casually mentioning: 'Our tail was shot off' or 'I saw a plane next to me explode in the sky — I wonder when the bar will open,"" Mr. Eshelman said.
Both Mrs. Bodnar and Mr. Eshelman agreed that it's special that their relative will be buried in the same region he grew up.
"The choice to come here was to be with his family, and I think his family would have wanted that and I think he would have wanted that," Mrs. Bodnar said.
Toward the end of the visitation on Sunday, the funeral home opened the casket to allow the family to view Eshelman's uniform. Then, his remains were place in a truck and transported to Allegheny Memorial Park in McCandless via a police escort.
At the burial, military personnel honored Eshelman with a three-volley salute, the playing of taps and by offering the folded American flag to Ms. Naughton.
"I think it give you some peace, that he's buried with his family and the people that he loves as opposed to some nameless grave," Mr. Eshelman said.
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