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WWII sergeant’s body returned for California burial

The body of Sergeant John P. Bonnassiolle, who died in World War II at age 20, was laid to rest in a hillside grave next to that of his father today, after having spent much of the last 66 years in the wreckage of a B-24J Liberator bomber shot down by German fighter planes north of Hanover, Germany on April 29, 1944.

The Department of Defense used DNA from his half-sister, 73-year-old Paulette Gooch, to confirm Bonnassiolle’s identity. Gooch was seven years old when her half-brother died. A German nonprofit group excavated the bomber crash site in a pasture and found human remains and Bonnassiolle’s name patch.

Bonnassiolle, who was from Oakland, received  a gun salute by an honor guard, and a flag was draped over his casket during a ceremony at the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, in Colma, south of San Francisco. Colma was founded as a necropolis in 1924, and the dead outnumber the living by thousands to one. The population of Colma was 1,191 in the year 2000 census. The humorous motto among some residents is, “It’s great to be alive in Colma.” :-)

The battle claiming Bonnassiolle’s B-24J was reportedly one of the most aggressive air battles over Berlin in World War II.

More than 74,000 soldiers remain missing from World War II, according to the Defense Department.

-Bill at

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