A World War II airman from Somerville, Massachusetts, has finally been laid to rest. Eighty years after his plane was shot down over Germany, the family of Staff Sgt. Loring Lord finally knows what happened to him. “It was relief. It was a lot of relief. A little bit surreal,” said retired Air Force Major Charles Axtell. Axtell is the great-nephew of Loring Lord, a man whose presence filled Axtell’s childhood home long after the plane crash that took his life. The Southwest Airlines pilot has spent the better part of the last decade trying to discover what happened to his great-uncle. “It’s beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s him,” said Axtell. “Now, we know. We know he didn’t get taken by the Germans. We know that he passed away quickly, that he didn’t suffer in any way.”Using ever-advancing DNA technology, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), works to recover and account for about 80,000 other service members, missing or killed in action, between WWII and the first Gulf War. Around 2,800 of them are from Massachusetts. “I would like everybody that sees this to take a moment to recognize that there’s families that don’t have that closure and need it,” said Axtell.In September 2024, DPAA was able to locate and identify Lord’s remains and begin the process of bringing him home. “DNA is the biggest scientific proof that you can find. And it makes it not hopeless when you’re sifting the ground,” said Axtell. “You know that with the smallest piece, you can start to put together answers for your family.”DPAA began the process of bringing Staff Sgt. Lord home, and Axtell and his family worked to complete it.“I would just say, he’s not forgotten. He is remembered,” said Axtell. “And we’re going to put him with his parents where he belongs.”Watch the story above to learn how Axtell’s own military service led him to his missing family member.

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