One Brick Short

Staff Sgt. Martin F. Troy, of the U.S. Army Air Force, is being buried Nov. 20 in Arlington National Cemetery after resting in Hungary since 1944.

S/Sgt. Troy, of Norwalk, Conn., was a crew member on a B-24H Liberator bomber on a June 30 run over Blechammer, Germany, trying to hit a refinery. His flock of bombers ran into Luftwaffe fighters and his plane was shot down. Seven of his fellow crew parachuted safely and were captured, later being released. Three crew members, including himself, died as the plane slammed into a swamp near Memsvita, Hungary, near Lake Balaton.

Remains of two of the dead crew were recovered, but S/Sgt. Troy was not located.

In 1999 and 2003, Hungarian citizens turned over to U.S. officials human remains supposedly recovered from the crash site and defense officials visited the wreckage in 2003 and 2005 and excavated it in 2007. They found remains and other evidence, using a variety of methods to identify S/Sgt. Troy.