BOULDER CITY (KTNV) — The family of U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Robert D. McKee has waited a long time to bring him home.
81 years to be exact.
McKee served our country during World War II and was killed in action on April 8, 1944. That's when the B-24H Liberator, known as "Little Joe", that he co-piloted was shot down by enemy fire while on a bombing mission over Germany.
At the time, he was only 27 years old.
He was originally from Portland, Oregon and this was the notice that the War Department sent to his family in 1944.
Following World War II and the fall of the Iron Curtain, parts of Germany fell under Soviet Control for decades, which prevented U.S. officials from bringing fallen service members home.
According to the Department of Defense, in 2015, an independent research organization contacted the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency about a crash near Wistedt. They believed the site was associated with McKee's crash.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency specifically looks for missing American service men and women that have served our country during various conflicts, including World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, Cold War, and Gulf Wars. Their website states that more than 81,000 Americans remain missing from those wars.
Personnel from that office traveled to the site and interviewed local witnesses. One told the team they saw an aircraft go down in a nearby farm field during the war.
In 2021, the DPAA team found items related to the tail gunner of "Little Joe", confirming the crash site and in 2023, they excavated the site, finding skeletal remains.
On June 20, 2024, the DPAA team confirmed those remains were McKee.
According to DPAA documents, they tested the remains and found a DNA match to McKee's maternal cousin and they discovered he has family living in Las Vegas and in Arizona.
SCENES FROM BOULDER CITY: Family, friends, veterans honor fallen World War II soldier
On Friday, McKee, surrounded by loved ones and fellow veterans, was laid to rest in a repatriation funeral ceremony at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.
Nevada Army National Guard chaplain Emmanuel Barba said the ceremony was a chance to honor McKee's service but also give the family closure.
"It's so important for the family to have some type of closure, to have some clarity. To live a life with years of the unknown is unimaginable," Barba said. "For them to know exactly what happened, to honor him the correct way, that's so important. That's why the Army does what they do to honor fallen soldiers."
The Nevada Army National Guard performed a Lakota UH-72 flyover alongside World War II-era aircraft and a folded flag was also given to his family.
The Department of the Army determined that McKee is also entitled to receive a posthumous Purple Heart, Air Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medial with one Bronze Service Star, World War II Victory Medal, U.S. Army Air Forces Pilot Wings, and Honorable Service Lapel Button-World War II.
