U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Francis “Buddy” Callahan never returned from his bombing mission over Brunswick, Germany. On April 8, 1944, enemy fighter aircraft shot down his B-24 bomber, nicknamed “Little Joe,” before it could reach its target. Fellow bomber crews reported seeing no one from the 10-man crew exit the stricken aircraft as it fell out of the sky.
Callahan, from Staten Island, New York, served as the bomber’s navigator. According to his niece Kathleen Callahan Kaminski, he begged his parents to let him join the military. They initially refused but gave in to pressure from his brother and sister, who were already serving. He married just before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Forces and flew his bomber out of England as part of the Eighth Air Force. He was only 22 years old when his plane crashed. “Everyone came home except Buddy,” said Kaminski.
Callahan’s identity and whereabouts remained a mystery for 71 years until Enrico Schwartz, a German who founded the Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team, reported a possible crash site to the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Schwartz and his team had worked tirelessly for almost 15 years, researching possible crash sites and interviewing eyewitnesses to find the eventual crash site.
DPAA used his information to discover remains, contact descendants and eventually identify Callahan. When a DPAA representative contacted Kaminski in Danbury, Connecticut, she was not surprised. “I expected it,” she said, having known about DPAA and Schwartz’s work. “If they knew his location, I thought it was almost impossible for him not to be found.”
The collective work of DPAA and Schwartz’s team enabled Callahan’s descendants to gather in Arlington National Cemetery’s Section 68 on Feb. 24, 2025, to finally say goodbye and honor his sacrifice. At the funeral service, Capt. (Chaplain) Joseph Campbell told the extended family, “He has given of his blood in the defense of his homeland and will forever be revered by his fellow countrymen. For while many have served our nation honorably, your beloved has shed his blood for the freedoms we hold so dear.”
After the service, Kaminski stood up and thanked everyone who attended. She asked everyone to remember the two crew members who were still missing, Frank Vincze and John Harris, since DPAA had found no family members to provide DNA evidence. “In the meantime,” she said, “they remain in the care of the U.S. Army with the hope that one day, they too will be positively identified.” She also thanked Schwartz, who was in attendance. “I will be eternally grateful to Enrico,” she said. “He was the driving force to bringing Buddy home.” She explained why she chose Arlington National Cemetery as her uncle’s final resting place: “It was a hard-earned honor.”
As Donal O’Liathain’s Irish song, “Hail the Hero,” played, family members placed roses on the casket. Kaminski kissed her rose before carefully placing it on her uncle’s final resting place.
