Governor Rell Orders Flags Lowered Thursday

in Honor of WWII Airman’s Interment at Arlington

            Governor M. Jodi Rell today ordered state and U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff from dawn to dusk on Thursday, November 20, in honor of a World War II airman from Norwalk whose remains were recently recovered in Hungary.

            Staff Sergeant Martin F. Troy was aboard a B-24H “Liberator” bomber participating in a June 30, 1944, U.S. Army Air Force air raid on an oil refinery in Blechammer, Germany. His aircraft was shot down by German fighter planes and crashed in a swampy area near Nemesvita, Hungary.

            Seven of the 10 crewmen safely parachuted from the stricken four-engine bomber and were captured. Three crewmen were killed; the remains of two of them were recovered shortly after the crash. Staff Sergeant Troy’s remains were only recently found and identified.

            “No amount of time fully eases the grief we feel at the loss of a loved one or lifts the duty of devotion we owe to our honored veterans,” Governor Rell said. “As Staff Sergeant Troy is finally laid to rest Thursday amid the peaceful hills of Arlington National Cemetery, the thoughts, prayers and gratitude of all of Connecticut will be with his family. He is home at last – never forgotten, but home at last.”

            In 1999 and 2003, Hungarian citizens turned over to the U.S. government human remains recovered from the crash site. In 2003 and 2005, U.S. military authorities charged with identifying missing personnel surveyed the site. In 2007, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command excavated the site, recovering additional human remains as well as non-biological evidence.

            Flags should be raised back to full staff at sunset on November 20.