A Lynn soldier who went missing for 73 years following World War II will be laid to rest this week in New York.
Sgt. Earl P. Gorman and his crew aboard a B-24 aircraft were on their final bombing mission in 1944 when they were attacked by German planes over Yugoslavia, according to the Defense Department.
While the rest of the crew survived, the 23-year-old radio operator did not. Despite being mortally wounded, his crewmates put a parachute on him and bailed him out of the plane.
“We got the telegram that he died more than 70 years ago and that’s what we’ve lived with until August of this year when the Army told us they had identified his remains,” said Thomas Gorman, his 87-year-old brother who was 14 during World War II. “We all feel better that my brother is finally home and resting here.”
The family, which included four girls and four boys, lived in West Lynn during the 1940s and 50s. Earl and several other members of the clan worked at General Electric Co.
He had been married for just a year to Virginia Lock when he was killed in combat, his brother said. Lock, who later remarried, has also died. In addition to Thomas, he is survived by another brother, Daniel.
“He was tall, good looking, very kind and very popular,” said Thomas of his brother, Earl. “He graduated Classical High School, later joined the Army Air Force and trained as a radio man and a gunner.”
The Army said witnesses reported seeing a squadron of American airplanes engaged with German aircraft above their Yugoslavian village in the spring of 1944. They told investigators that one man parachuted from an airplane, and died shortly after he reached the ground.
In 1947, investigators exhumed remains that had been designated as unknown. This year, after a historical and scientific analysis using dental and chest x-rays, scientists identified the remains as Gorman.
The service will be held on Friday at the St. Joseph Center in Valatie, New York, where Thomas lives.
