FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Mountain hikers have discovered remains believed to be those of a missing World War II airman resting atop a glacier not far from where an aviation cadet's body was found two years ago, authorities said Monday.
The second set of human remains was found in an alpine region of Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada range on Wednesday, no more than 100 feet from where climbers spotted the ice-entombed body of Leo Mustonen in October 2005, park officials said.
Military anthropologists plan to analyze the body, which they believe could be one of three men flying with Mustonen when their AT-7 navigational trainer plane disappeared after takeoff from a Sacramento airfield on Nov. 18, 1942.
On board were Mustonen, pilot William Gamber, 23, and aviation cadets John Mortenson, 25, hometown unknown, and Ernest Munn, 23, of St. Clairsville, Ohio. A blizzard is believed to have caused the crash.
Military officials planned to notify families of the three men today, said Robert Mann, deputy scientific adviser for the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.
Rangers found the second body partially exposed on a remote glacier resting among granite boulders, his undeployed parachute, stenciled "US ARMY," just inches away. The Air Force was part of the Army until 1947.
"It looks like his head was just resting on the rock," said Debbie Brenchley, the first Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks ranger to spot the remains Friday after hikers reported the find. "You can see he has a wool sweater on, and a white collar and a ring on."
The Fresno County coroner's office is overseeing the retrieval of the remains.