On April 8, 1944, he was aboard a B-24H “Liberator” named “Little Joe” when it was shot down by enemy fire during a bombing mission over Brunswick, Germany.
COVINGTON, Ga. — Nearly 80 years after being killed in action during World War II, U.S. Army Air Force Sgt. Henry H. Allen Jr., a 20-year-old from Covington, has been officially accounted for, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Allen was identified on June 20, 2024.
Allen was a top turret gunner assigned to the 732nd Bombardment Squadron, 453rd Bombardment Group, 2nd Combat Bomb Wing, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force in the European Theater. On April 8, 1944, he was aboard a B-24H “Liberator” named “Little Joe” when it was shot down by enemy fire during a bombing mission over Brunswick, Germany. Witnesses from nearby aircraft did not see any crewmembers exit before the plane crashed near Salzwedel, and all ten airmen, including Allen, were considered missing in action.
In the years following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) attempted to locate the crash site, but efforts were unsuccessful. Documentation by German forces indicated several B-24s were downed in the area, but none could be conclusively linked to Allen’s aircraft.
It wasn’t until 2015 that new information emerged. The Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team (MAACRT), an independent research group, contacted DPAA historians with evidence suggesting a potential crash site near Wistedt, Germany. Interviews with residents led investigators to two sites, one of which had not been recovered by American forces post-war. Excavations at the second site uncovered wreckage and potential human remains.
Further investigations were conducted from 2021 to 2023, and by November 2023, all recoverable evidence, including possible osseous remains and life support equipment, was sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
Scientists from the DPAA used anthropological and dental analysis. At the same time, experts from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System conducted mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, leading to the identification of Allen’s remains.
Sgt. Allen’s name is listed on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. A rosette will be placed next to his name, marking that he has been accounted for.
Allen will be laid to rest in his hometown of Covington, Georgia, with a burial date to be determined.
To learn more about the Defense Department’s efforts to locate and identify Americans missing in action, visit the DPAA website.
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