A Needham Army airman whose plane was shot down during World War II was finally laid to rest this Veteran’s Day weekend, after the U.S. Defense Department identified his remains through DNA testing.
Army Air Force 1st Lieutenant Joseph Finneran was buried Saturday with full military honors at Mount Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury.
William Glennon says his uncle was killed over Ploesti, Romania, on Aug. 1, 1943. Finneran served in the USAAF's 9th Air Force as part of the 98th bomb group. The current day Air Force, as a separate branch, was not founded until 1947.
According to Glennon, Finneran’s plane was hit by enemy fire during a low-level bombing raid on Hitler's oil refineries. “He was a bombardier on a B-24 named 'Old Baldy,'” Glennon said, “He completed 25 missions and was scheduled to go home.”
Finneran and his crewmates died in “Operation Tidal Wave,” and their remains were interred in a Belgium cemetery.
Through the efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and genetic DNA testing, Finneran’s remains were identified and returned to his family.
Glennon says the burial service is more of a celebration of his uncle’s life. "He can be brought back and given a funeral and given the honors he deserved back in 1943.”
The 22-year old Finneran was born in Needham and attended Jamaica Plain High School before enlisting in the U.S. Army, 11 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Last Friday, a wake was held in Needham at George F. Doherty and Sons Funeral home, with burial Mass Saturday morning at St. Joseph’s Church in Needham, where Finneran was baptized.
Glennon says he and his sister, and surviving four cousins, chose to lay his uncle to rest on Veterans Day weekend. “We could have had the funeral on any weekend, but we chose Veterans Day weekend to draw attention to the people from World War II and all wars who are still missing and unidentified,” he said.
