CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) – A Southern Illinois native who flew planes in Southeast Asia more than 75 years ago has returned home for burial.
The Southern Illinoisan reports Maax Curtis Hammer Jr. died when his plane crashed in what is now Myanmar in 1941. His remains returned to Carbondale on Wednesday via dignified transport from Hawaii, where he was buried for 67 years in a grave marked “Unknown.”
A visitation is planned for March 20 in Carbondale and a private family graveside service is planned for the next morning.
Hammer was part of the Flying Tigers, a group of volunteer pilots who helped the British and Chinese defend what was Burma and China from the Japanese.
Tripp Alyn, a distant cousin of Hammer’s, hopes Oakland Cemetery is his relative’s final burial site.
