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Pilot’s remains, found in Laos, laid to rest

PORTLAND, Maine — The remains of a pair of military aviators from Maine and Oklahoma killed when their bomber crashed in Laos in 1969 have been turned over to their families for burial, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

Air Force Col. Norman D. Eaton of Weatherford, Okla., and Lt. Col. Paul E. Getchell of Portland, Maine, were flying a B-57B Canberra bomber in Salavan Province, Laos, on Jan. 13, 1969, when the plane crashed, defense officials said.

The bomber, low on fuel, went down after embarking on a third bombing run in the dark as flares dropped over the site faded away, officials said.

A joint U.S.-Lao People’s Democratic Republic team surveyed the site in 1995 and another team later discovered wreckage and materials from the crew.

Starting in 2003, teams began a three-year process of excavating site and found Getchell’s identification tag, human remains and other items. Scientists used DNA to identify the remains, defense officials said.

Eaton will be buried Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery, Va.; Getchell will be buried later this spring at Arlington, officials said.