ARLINGTON (KFDX/KJTL) — A World War II hero from Electra was buried with full military honors Wednesday, May 17, in Arlington National Cemetery, almost 80 years since he died on a bombing mission over Romania.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced last summer that U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Roy Carney, 20, had finally been accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Carney was assigned to the 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force.

On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Carney was serving as a gunner crashed as a result of enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania.

His remains were not identified following the war. The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Romania.

Carney’s father, Andrew J. Carney, was presented his son’s Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters.

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel, dug up all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.

The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and those remains were permanently placed in a grave at Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.

Carney’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Italy, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.