Air Force Lt. Paul Schmidt
The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Paul W. Schmidt, killed during World War II, will be interred Nov. 28 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. Everly-Wheatley Funerals and Cremation, Alexandria, Virginia, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.
A native of Rockville Centre, New York, Schmidt was assigned to the 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 8th Air Force. He was attacking an enemy train March 23, 1945, near Sendenhorst, Germany, in his F-6D, a reconnaissance version of the P-51 Mustang fighter, when he went missing in action at age 20. The War Department issued a presumptive finding of death March 24, 1946.
In May 1945, an American graves registration team recovered a set of remains from the Warendorf area, later designated X-635 Margraten, which was buried as an unknown at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. X-635 was disinterred by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in June 2018 for analysis and identification.
Schmidt was accounted for by the DPAA Sept. 28, 2022, after his remains were identified using circumstantial evidence as well as anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.
His name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
For additional information about 1st Lt. Schmidt, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3178832/pilot-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-schmidt-p/
