This U.S. Army airman did not return home, but we know where he is resting along with the rest of the
air crew. This relates to a cousin, Radio Sergeant Cecil Vandiver, whose B-17 was shot down by antiaircraft fire from Japanese warships about July 27, 1945 only a few weeks before the war ended.

The only notification his parents received was a telegram from the War Department that stated "Sgt. Cecil Vandiver is missing in action and presumed dead." No Army Chaplain, ever appeared at their door and his parents died without knowing any details of their only surviving child's death. Cecil's death was a terrible blow to his parents. Their first born, a girl, died from a tragic accident at the age of about nine months. Cecil was born a few years later , grew up on his parents farm and was attending Northeast Georgia College at Dahlonega, Ga. when the Japanese attack came at Pearl Harbor.

Cecil and several of his classmates volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Force based on a promise if they qualified they would be trained as pilots. Unfortunately Cecil's vision did not meet the standard required for pilot training and he trained as a Radio/Gunner. As soon as he finished training he was sent to an airbase located in Alaska where he flew combat missions for several months.

In order to shorten his saga, I was browsing through footnote web site and noticed a tab "Missing Aircraft Reports". I placed Cecil's name onto their search engine and wham there was his name along with the names of the entire crew, their serial numbers, next of kin along with their addresses and the serial numbers of the airframe, each engine and each machine gun.

It seems that the plane on which Cecil served was seen to crash into the sea during their bombing run by another plane on the raid and they recorded the exact longitude and latitude where the plant hit the water. My brother (who is smarter than I) found a site on Google that produced a map indicating the crash site. The site was approximately 150 miles from their base so they almost made it home and I have a map in my file showing the site.

Cecil's parents and their brothers and sisters have all been dead for many years, but I would be thrilled had I been able to present this map to them and say "here is your son's resting place."

I suppose this incident proves the adage "never stop searching and you will eventually be rewarded"

In order to meet the Civil War aspect, I would like to state that the blood of many veterans of the Civil War flowed strongly in the veins of Cecil as well as through my veins.