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Frozen airman 'no longer out there on a mountain alone'

More than 60 years after he died in a crash, an airman whose body was frozen in a glacier is at last laid to rest.

By wire services
Published March 25, 2006

BRAINERD, Minn. - A World War II airman whose frozen body was chipped out of a California glacier last fall was laid to rest Friday in his hometown of Brainerd, Minn., more than six decades after the young man disappeared during a training flight.

Leo Mustonen's two nieces were among about 100 people who gathered at First Lutheran Church to say goodbye. A full military funeral followed at a cemetery overlooking the Mississippi River.

"This is one of the most unique and special days that any of us will ever be a part of," the Rev. Andy Smith said. "Today we are burying a small-town boy from Brainerd, Minnesota, who dreamed of flying."

Mustonen was 22 when his AT-7 navigational plane disappeared after takeoff from a Sacramento, Calif., airfield on Nov. 18, 1942. An engine, scattered remains and clothing were found over the following years, far from the plane's intended course. All four men aboard were killed in the crash.

But Mustonen's remains were not found until last year, when two hikers in California noticed something jutting out of the ice.

A military team arrived to cut him out, ice and all, and transported him to a remote laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, where anthropologists thawed him by spraying him with water.

A mummified human time capsule took its broken shape before them. He carried a Sheaffer fountain pen. The newest coin in his pocket was dated 1942. But his nameplate was terribly corroded.

His journey from the snow to the laboratory to the grave fulfills what a commander here calls the military's "most sacred of promises" to its members.

"We're going back to that basic promise we make to youngsters who enter the military," said Col. Claude H. Davis III of the Marines, deputy commander of the joint command, which works to find and identify the remains of Americans from all wars. "We're going to make sure they get home again."

So, forensic scientists analyzed bones, DNA samples and the airman's teeth, along with the corroded nameplate. Anthropologists used different sources of light to photograph the plate until they could read four letters: "EO A. M."

One of the dead men was listed as Leo M. Mustonen, age 22. Close to the nameplate, but with a different middle initial.

A piece of bone generated mitochondrial DNA, but for a match, a sample has to be drawn from a maternal relative. The lone relatives of Mustonen were the wife and daughters of his brother, in Jacksonville. Their DNA would not be of help.

But relatives of the other three men - John Mortenson, 25, of Idaho; Ernest Munn, 23, of Ohio; and the pilot, 2nd Lt. William Gamber, 23, also of Ohio - were found. None matched the airman's DNA.

Finally, anthropologists found that Mustonen's name had been misspelled on his nameplate all along. The A should have been M.

So by the nametag and genetic default, and "to the exclusion of other reasonable possibilities," the airman was identified as Leo M. Mustonen. His family was notified, and his remains cremated and shipped to Minnesota.

At the cemetery Friday, Mustonen was honored with a three-volley salute and a bugler playing taps.

His nieces, Mary Ruth Mustonen and Leane Ross, said at a news conference that they have been overwhelmed by stories about their uncle over the past few weeks.

Mary Ruth was 11 months old when her uncle died; Ross had not been born. "He really feels like he is ours now, and we've grown to love him," Ross said.

He was buried alongside his mother, Anna, who grieved for years over the loss of her son.

Ross said: "He's no longer out there on a mountain alone."

[Last modified March 25, 2006, 01:51:17]