RENO, Nev. — The remains of a World War II pilot whose aircraft was shot down over Italy have been returned to his family in northern Nevada.
Italian citizens near the town of Bolzano later came across the plane wreckage and the apparent gravesite. The remains were recovered in 2017 and identified last year as Army 2nd Lt. Lowell S. Twedt, the Nevada Army National Guard said Friday.
Twedt's only son, William Twedt, was at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport on Friday as the remains arrived. He was 5 years old when his father died in a mission to attack oil targets in Germany.
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William Twedt said his late grandmother always held out hope that her husband was alive, possibly suffering from memory loss after the crash and wandering around Italy.
"I don't think it's really hit me yet, but it's really neat that I can have him near," he told KOLO-TV in Reno.
Lowell Twedt will be reburied Saturday, Aug. 8 at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley.