The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has credited the IUP field school in assisting with identifying a late soldier’s remains found in Germany.
The agency said that the soldier was Air Force 1st Lt. Wylie Leverett from Wortham Texas. He was killed in December of 1944 while he fought in World War II. On Dec. 30, Leverett, the pilot onboard a B-17G “Flying Fortress” named Fuddy Duddy, was lost when his aircraft collided with another American aircraft while on a bombing mission to Mannheim, Germany. His plane and another suddenly changed altitudes. The plane was hit by another Flying Fortress’ propeller and it crashed. Only two people on the Fuddy Duddy survived. Farmers found the remains of 13 of the 16 other crew members, and they were buried in a single mass grave.
Between June and July of 2022, History Flight, Inc. along with IUP was excavating the site where the Fuddy Duddy went down. The team recovered items that were transferred to a lab for further examination. The next year, the teams returned and found an ID tag belonging to one of the missing crew members. DNA testing on the tag showed it belonged to Leverett.
The IUP Dean of the John J. and Char Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics said he was proud of the team and the leaders from IUP, Dr. Andea Palmiotto and Dr. William Chadwick from the Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences. He said that being able to help the family and friends of Leverett along with the POW/MIA agency was “humbling”.
Leverett’s remains will be buried in Dallas, Texas later this year.
