CBS News
WWII pilot from Idaho accounted for 80 years after his P-38 “Lightning” was shot down
2nd Lt. Allan W. Knepper took off from Tunisia in his P-38 “Lightning” jet as “one of many fighter waves” set to attack enemy Axis forces in Sicily, Italy on July 10, 1943.
During the attack, air forces were dispatched every 30 minutes, dodging enemy fire as they strafed an armored German column.
Knepper, 27, and the 49th Fighter Squadron encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire. Another pilot reported witnessing his plane “veer suddenly skyward before rolling halfway over and plummeting to the ground.” No evidence was found that he deployed his parachute, and Knepper was declared missing in action, his remains never found.
Now, more than 80 years later, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has announced that they have accounted for Knepper’s remains, bringing peace to his last surviving family member.
The DPAA did not specify how they accounted for Knepper, or what remains of his were used to make the identification. Since the 1970s, the agency has accounted for the remains of nearly 1,000 Americans who died during World War II. The remains are returned to families for burial with full military honors, the agency said.
Knepper was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Italy, according to HonorStates.org, a site tracking military members. The military typically marks such names with a rosette or other symbol once their remains have been accounted for, but the DPAA did not say if this would be done for Knepper.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Knepper posthumously received a Purple Heart and an Air Medal, the site said.
Knepper’s life has also been memorialized in “The Jagged Edge of Duty: A Fighter Pilot’s World War II.” The book, written by historian Robert Richardson, tracks Knepper’s life and death and even offered some insight about where his remains might be found. It also offered closure to Knepper’s only surviving relative, 79-year-old Shirley Finn.
“I felt like I finally met my brother,” said Finn in an interview with the Lewiston Tribune. Finn is Knepper’s half-sister, the paper said. Finn said that her family “never lost hope” that Knepper’s remains would be found.
“I am tremendously grateful for (Richardson),” she told the Lewiston Tribune in 2017. “I didn’t think anyone would be interested in reading a book about my brother. I didn’t think other people would care. It just didn’t occur to me.”
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.