World War II Chicago airman’s remains identified decades after fatal crash. ‘It’s sort of a miracle,’ great-nephew says.

Second Lt. Walter B. Miklosh was a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Army Air Forces from Chicago who died after his plane crashed in India. His remains were identified in May. (The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

The remains of a World War II airman from Chicago were identified earlier this year in India, nearly 80 years after he died in a plane crash during the war.

Second Lt. Walter B. Miklosh, 21, was the navigator on a B-29 Superfortress that took part in a June 1944 bombing raid against a steel mill on Japan’s Kyushu Island.