Staff Sergeant, who was MIA in World War II, laid to rest in North Carolina

After 80 years missing from World War II, U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant Robert L. Ferris Jr. was finally returned to his family in New Bern, North Carolina.

His remains were laid to rest with full military honors at New Bern National Cemetery last month after being given full military honors.

North Carolina DMVA Representative Military and Family Services Coordinator Roderick White presented Ferris’s family with a letter from Governor Cooper, certificates, and a flag flown over the State Capitol in his honor.

“We owe a deep debt of gratitude to SSgt Ferris who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation,” said North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Secretary Grier Martin, “Bringing SSgt Ferris home will help his family find some measure of closure.”

SSgt Ferris was accounted for on Sept. 22, 2023, by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). On May 16, his remains were received by his family and NC DMVA Director of Transition Services Andrea Allard at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

After the planeside honors and the transfer conducted by the United States Army Honor Guard, SSgt Ferris’s remains were escorted by the Patriot Guard Riders from RDU to New Bern. A brief ceremony was held on May 19 when he was awarded the Purple Heart as well as other accolades.

SSgt Ferris served in the 401 ^st Bombardment Squadron, 91 ^st Bombardment Group. On December 20, 1942, he was the ball turret gunner aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress (nicknamed “Danellen”) with a crew of eight other members. During a bombing mission in France, his aircraft was shot down by an enemy fighter plane and crashed near the village of Bernieres–sur–Seine.

During postwar recovery efforts, only one set of remains were successfully identified by the American Graves Registration Service. In 2019, three sets of unknown remains believed to be associated with the crew of “Danellen” were sent to a DPAA laboratory for further study.

Eighty years after he was declared missing from WWII, on Sept. 22, 2023, DPAA identified the remains of SSgt Ferris through laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence.

He is survived by his nieces, Barbara Weiss and Jane Moore, and nephew, John Booth, along with great-nephews Joseph Inerra, Jamie Inserra, Thomas Holmes, Michael Holmes, Jason Palmer, Ricky Palmer, Cory Booth, Bryan Booth and great-nieces Tara Hicks and Shannon Booth. He is also survived by his 15 great-great nieces and nephews.

SSgt Ferris is also memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery in England. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

There are still 81,000 Americans that still remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Gulf Wars among other conflicts, according to the DPAA.