Pentagon identifies remains of North Carolina Tuskegee Airman after 79 years
A North Carolina soldier who fought in World War II is finally coming home after his plane disappeared nearly 80 years ago in Germany during World War II.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Fred L. Brewer Jr., who was killed during World War II, has now been accounted for.
The airman was a pilot with the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, in the European Theater of World War II. Brewer was from Charlotte and graduated from Shaw University in Raleigh.
On Oct. 19, 1944, Brewer departed Ramitelli Air Base in Italy flying a P-51C Mustang, nicknamed "Traveling Light." He was escorting bombers to Germany when bad weather caused the engine of his plane to stall. The lieutenant's plane crashed, and he was declared missing in action.
In 2022, the DPAA exhumed a set of unidentified remains. New lab tests were able to positively identify those remains as Brewer's.
He will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
