When a member of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) called Anthony Kowalewski and told him they had positively identified his uncle, who was killed in World War II, he felt humbled. At his uncle’s funeral in Section 33 on April 9, 2025, he spoke about his surprise that a simple DNA test “turned into the ability to have this ceremony and to bring him home, at last, after 80 years.”
U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Edward S. Kovaleski was killed on April 26, 1945, while serving as an engineer and ball turret gunner on a B-24 bomber that crashed near Huttenberg, Austria. The bomber, part of the 15th Air Force flying out of Foggia, Italy, suffered a mechanical failure that sent it into a spiraling descent. Although eight crew members bailed out, Kovaleski was not accounted for. Witnesses and surviving crew members believed he was still in the bomber when it crashed.
Kovaleski remained missing in action until 2017, when an independent researcher pointed the DPAA to a possible crash site. After five years of examining the area, DPAA sent evidence believed to be associated with Kovaleski to their laboratory for identification.
That’s when a DPAA agent contacted Kowalewski, who did not know his uncle. “I did not have any real contact with that branch of the family,” he said, “so it's a remarkable journey that we've had over the last, almost two years.”
With his uncle identified, Kowalewski wanted him buried at Arlington National Cemetery. “This is where so many fallen heroes are buried and laid to rest,” he said. “It just seemed to be the kind of thing that I would like for him.”
During the service, U.S. Army Chaplain (Capt.) Emonena Itugbu told the gathering of friends and family, “Edward embodied the highest ideal of our nation, putting others before himself.” She added, “He represents, in many ways, countless others who have put not just our nation, but our ideals and values, above themselves.”
She then turned to Kovaleski’s casket and said, “Welcome brother. We love you.”
