SSgt. Leland D. Price was accounted for today by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Project Recover located his downed B-24 in January 2004 and is honored to play a vital role in his repatriation.
Project Recover humbly acknowledges SSgt. Price’s service and sacrifice, as well as the enduring loss to his family. We are grateful and honored to play a vital role in bringing him home. The repatriation of SSgt. Price helps resolve generational grief and awaken us to gratitude, hope, love, and unity. This is the legacy of our MIAs and their final mission.
Keeping America’s Promise to bring our MIAs home is a mission for every American.
SSgt. Leland D. Price
SSgt. Leland D. Price, 22, was the tail gunner on a B-24 piloted by 2nd Lt. Jack S.M. Arnett. The B-24 was shot down on September 1, 1944, on a bombing mission over Palau.
Project Recover located the downed aircraft on January 26, 2004, after a 10-year search. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) repatriated eight MIAs. SSgt. Leland Price was among them.
SSgt. Price is interred in Arlington National Cemetery and has a memorial marker in his hometown, Defiance, OH.
Three crew members were not recovered from the B-24. They parachuted from the aircraft and were captured and executed by enemy forces. They remain MIA.
The plane is featured in a painting by Mark Pestana, entitled Mission Palau. The story of the search and recovery was featured in the book, Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War II by Wil S. Hylton.
I continue to be amazed by the work this organization has done and continues to do. I’ve been reading about your compassionate endeavors for some time now.
From an ole Air Force “Knuckle Buster”, I salute each one if you!
Thank you for the commentary!