U.S. Experts to See WW2 Pilot's France Crash Site
PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. army experts have traveled to France to check the remains of what is thought to be an American fighter plane pilot who crashed toward the end of World War Two, the U.S. embassy said Tuesday. ''The mortuary team arrived from army headquarters in Germany and began talks today with local authorities in northern France,'' embassy spokesman Leonard Korycki told reporters.
He said the four U.S. specialists would visit the crash site at Feignies, near the Franco-Belgian border, later in the day or Wednesday to begin identification work.
The human remains and the wreckage of a P-51 Mustang plane were discovered during drainage work at the weekend.
French police said they had tentatively identified the remains of the pilot by his army ``dog-tags'' as a Lieutenant William Patton.
They said he could possibly be related to World War Two commander General George S. Patton, but gave no evidence to support the speculation.
They were also trying to determine the date of the plane crash, which was thought to have occurred in 1944 or 1945.
The remains would normally be taken to a central U.S. military forensic lab in Hawaii, the U.S. embassy said.
The remains of soldiers killed on French battlefields during two world wars are still discovered several times a year, usually during construction excavations.
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