A amazing scenario occurred Friday at DFW Airport as the family of an Erath County man who was killed in battle during World War II finally received their relative after a wait of over 80 years.
What Happened?
The remains of Noel Shoup, a pilot who was shot down over France in 1944, were unidentifiable for many years. But a find at the accident site eventually helped the North Texas hero make an emotional trip home.
Shoup received an engraved class ring when he graduated from Dublin High School in 1936, just like many of his contemporaries.
The nieces of the veteran talk about an uncle they never met yet have come to know quite a bit about. Sandra Hammons remarked, “He was incredibly well-regarded by his friends and family.
Before his jet was shot down while on a bombing mission, Shoup is claimed to have dropped out of college during the war and joined the Army Air Corps as a pilot. He eventually advanced to the rank of first lieutenant.
He and his copilot were the only victims of the disaster who they were unable to identify, according to Hammons.
The Dublin community soon heard about it, but Shoup’s mother always maintained that he was still alive. She would say, “Well, maybe he’s wandering around Europe with amnesia and he will someday come home,” when we were kids.
Back To Home
Source: ABC News
Human remains were found by investigators who located and searched the accident site in a remote part of France in 2018.
His niece Brenda Baumert remarked, “We never anticipated this would happen.A 1936 Dublin High School class ring bearing the letters N.E.S. was also discovered during the hunt. It revealed that they had located him.
Shoup was eventually returned home and welcomed with a special ceremony on the tarmac 79 years after he was slain in battle.
Before being led in a funeral procession to Dublin, where Shoup will be laid to rest alongside his family on Monday, the day of what would have been his 105th birthday, a military guard saluted the casket draped in the American flag.
There will be an end to a protracted family saga, according to Hammons; nothing will be left to speculate about or wonder about. It reunites him with his family.
