His brothers, Dick and Edward Stinson, briefly touched his flag-draped casket as it moved down the ramp and out of a United Airlines Airbus at Ontario International Airport.

"I never thought I'd see this day," said Edward Stinson, younger brother of the airman missing since his B-24 Liberator bomber was shot down by Japanese fighters in the South Pacific on Sept. 1, 1944.

Dick and Edward are all that's left of six brothers who grew up in San Bernardino, played ball together and "joked around a lot." Tall men who towed the line when their 5-foot 2-inch mother scolded them.

Military honor guards carry the remains of World War II Sgt. Robert Stinson, missing in action nearly 65 years after the plane he was aboard crashed in the South Pacific, to a waiting hearse at L.A./Ontario International Airport on Wednesday. Stinson's remains were found five years ago and identified using DNA. A memorial service will be held for him today at Bobbitt Memorial Chapel in San Bernardino. (Will Lester / Staff Photographer)

Ted Stinson of Kingman, Ariz., Dick's son, said his dad has not been in an airplane since his brother went missing in the war.

"My dad's as happy as I've seen him in a long time. He has had so much sadness all these years," the younger Stinson said, his eyes watering.

"We're blessed as a family to know what took place and we want to honor him in a way he should be honored."

More than 30 Patriot Guard Riders lined the fence and saluted, flags waving, as a color guard carried the Stinson casket to a waiting hearse.

Stinson was only 23 years old when he was killed.

Vintage photos show him youthful and handsome, 6-feet 4-inches tall with an easy smile.

Edward was 9 when his brother died.

"Bob was my No. 1 hero," he said, "my brother Dick, over there, is my second," Edward Stinson said.

When Bob was missing in action, the brothers thought about him every night, they said.

"We didn't know where he was, didn't know anyone was looking for him," Edward said, choking back a sob.

Posthumously, Robert Stinson was awarded the Purple Heart, an Air Medal and Oak-Leaf Cluster, as well as a variety of other honors for his service to his country.

"I break up thinking about it - it's not sorrow, it's happiness. I never dreamed of having a day like this," the 74-year-old Edward Stinson said.

He and his wife, Alice, were among the welcoming family members that also included their son, Dave Stinson, of Highland.

"It's a happy day - it's a miracle," said Dick Stinson, 87, who served as a B-24 gunner during World War II, flying 91 missions in the Pacific.

For 60 years, Sgt. Stinson and seven fellow crew members of the bomber, "Babes in Arms," lay in 70 feet of water off the Western Pacific island of Palau.

In 2004, volunteer divers with the BentProp organization found the wreckage, broken into three sections on a coral reef.

Under the auspices of the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command, the site was searched and Stinson's remains found.

Stinson was identified by DNA samples from Edward Stinson and brother Dick, of Yuba City, in 2006.

The remains and artifacts from the wreckage were brought up during four dives between 2004 and 2008.

Boots, parts of uniforms, watches, a shoelace in perfect condition, according to Edward Stinson.

The fallen airman was escorted to Bobbitt Memorial Chapel, where a public service is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. today at 1299 E. Highland Ave., San Bernardino.

Burial is set for 11 a.m. Friday at Riverside National Cemetery, 22495 Van Buren Blvd.

michel.nolan@inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 386-3859

It's been more than 60 years since Loren Seidel's brother disappeared somewhere over the Himalayas.

He always wondered what happened, imagining his brother — a World War II airman — had been captured as a prisoner of war.

But earlier this year, Loren got the call he'd stopped hoping for long ago.

"We never thought we'd hear anything like this, that they discovered his airplane," Loren, 83, said last week at his Marine on St. Croix home.

An American mountaineer had discovered the crash site of a World War II cargo plane in remote north-east India. Among its four-member crew had been its flight engineer, Pfc. Kenneth L. Seidel, of St. Paul.

Loren said it feels good to finally get some news about his big brother.

He and his sister, Dorothy Buhl, 81, of Oakdale, hope Kenneth's remains might be recovered and one day make it home for a proper burial, though military officials haven't promised anything.

On Saturday, Loren and his wife, Ellen, 84, attended an update by the Department of Defense in the Twin Cities for families of MIA/POW soldiers.

They learned a lot, Ellen said. Though military representatives spoke of possible upcoming recovery missions, they didn't specifically name Kenneth's site. Many planes went down there, and each crash site is quite large, Ellen said.

"(Loren) says that — and I think we both feel — it's a big question of whether they'd (Kenneth's remains) come back or not," Ellen said after the meeting.

"To me it would be a big surprise if there was something, but it would be nice. For Loren's sake and for Dorothy's sake, it would be nice if they found something."

The Seidels haven't given up hope of interring Kenneth's remains beneath the stone already bearing his name, next to his mother at Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul. But they recognize that it could be years before that happens.

Loren was just 17 when Kenneth's plane disappeared in the China-Burma-India theatre (Burma is now known as Myanmar). Loren was in boot camp for the Marine Corps, and went on to serve in the war.

'ALUMINUM ALLEY'

Records show the plane, a C-46A with serial number 41-24739, took off from Kunming, China on Jan. 29, 1944, but never showed up at its destination in India.

The family never received personal effects or word of how Kenneth's plane might have gone down. Just a telegram declaring him missing shortly after his disappearance.

He was officially declared dead on April 10, 1945 — what would have been his 25th birthday.

The plane was flying "the Hump," as it was known, a common and dangerous route over the Himalaya Mountains for transporting supplies to China during the war. The area was so notorious for claiming planes it was dubbed Aluminum Alley.

Mountaineer Clayton Kuhles discovered the crash site in October of last year.

Kuhles, 55, a businessman from Prescott, Ariz., began exploring the China-Burma-India theater region in 2000, and has logged 15 similar crash-site discoveries — all American planes from the second world war.

"I found out that no one had ever gone looking for these men," said Kuhles, reached at home last week. "I decided to make it a personal crusade of mine. I've just taken on the project, and it's become a real passion of mine."

To track down the family members of missing soldiers, Kuhles enlisted the help of Gary Zaetz, whose uncle was lost in the war. Zaetz was like the Seidels — more curious than hopeful — when he came across Kuhles' Web site, miarecoveries.org.

"I was just stunned," said Zaetz, 54, of Cary, N.C. "I didn't expect to find any information like this at all. I was just hoping to find something on my uncle's war record, and there was Clayton's Web site saying he had found my uncle's plane."

It was Zaetz who called the Seidels in February about Kuhles' discovery.

RELIEF HE WASN'T TAKEN PRISONER

For them, the news was bittersweet.

"I got a call. He said, 'I'm calling about Kenneth Seidel,' " Ellen recalled. "I said, 'I just buried him.' "

The Seidels had named their first son after Loren's brother. The younger Kenneth was a Vietnam veteran and died just a week before they were contacted about the discovery.

"I wish he had lived to ..." Ellen said, tearing up.

At first, Loren and Ellen thought the call was a hoax. They thought someone had seen the obituary and was preying on them. Family members cautioned that the caller probably was just looking for money.

But an Internet-savvy granddaughter guided the Seidels through Kuhles' Web site, which contained photos of the crash site, names of crewmembers and similar details for the other missing World War II planes he's discovered.

"Then I did feel it was real," Loren said.

According to Kuhles' written report, the plane crashed in a jungle-covered area near the Indian village of Rilu, in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. It was seen approaching from the north, struck the crest of the hill and slid into a ravine.

Kuhles met a local woman who witnessed the crash. She said the plane was on fire when it slid down the mountainside. She and other Indian villagers buried the crewmembers on site, Loren said.

The news was a relief, at long last.

"Loren always wondered," Ellen said. "(When he learned) they were buried on site, it gave him peace of mind that he wasn't captured (by the enemy). It gives us peace of mind that that didn't happen."

74,000 STILL MISSING

Kuhles funds each of his trips independently, with help from donations from thankful families here and there. Although he reports each of his discoveries to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command — an arm of the Department of Defense whose responsibility is recovering military remains — Kuhles gets no help or funding from the federal government.

JPAC officials say they're aware of the work Kuhles has done and are working on making recoveries in that region. They were negotiating with the Indian government when Kuhles announced his discoveries, said JPAC spokesman Lt. Col. Wayne Perry.

The group is planning a recovery mission in that area this fall, Perry said.

"We generally do about 100 or so missions a year, spread across all three conflicts (World War II and Vietnam and Korean wars)," Perry said. "We're pretty successful, but it doesn't always mean we bring something home. And just because we bring remains home this year, doesn't mean we can ID them this year."

The mountains in the CBI theater reach more than 25,000 feet in some spots. The C-46A topped out at 24,500 feet. The low-flying cargo planes often had to weave through mountaintops in treacherous weather conditions.

It's believed that several hundred planes were lost in Aluminum Alley and more than 1,300 crewmen are unaccounted for, Perry said. The number of American World War II personnel still missing is 74,384, he said.

Kuhles and Zaetz are committed to helping as many families as possible find closure for the soldiers and pilots who went missing in that region.

"I expect to continue helping (Kuhles) locate relatives for as long as I live," Zaetz said. "It's just that important that we remember the sacrifice that these airmen made."

Elizabeth Mohr can be reached at 651-228-5162.