Reported by Dave D'Marko
WINTER PARK -- It was a funeral with full military honors. A ceremony the family of Lt. Jack Arnett waited a lifetime to see.
Arnett was laid to rest at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Winter Park Saturday.
His funeral came more than 65 years after he volunteered to fly an extra mission in the Pacific Theaters of Operation when the pilot who was supposed to fly fell ill.
His B-24 Liberator was shot down and plunged into the Pacific.
In the 1990s, the volunteer organization, BentProp began searching for the plane in waters off Papua New Guinea.
"We all knew the names of all the people on that airplane’s crew long before we found it," said BentProp diver Reid Joyce.
Joyce and his partner reviewed archive film and talked with local fishermen, and searched for 10 years. Then they found an engine and a wing. They also found several bones and dog tags.
After three years of careful removal, DNA evidence confirmed it was Jack Arnett.
Arnett’s brother, Howard was also a World War II pilot. He searched for Jack himself for years after the crash.
On Saturday, he finally got a chance to salute the soldier who delivered him a folded flag, as a B-25 bomber flew by commemorating the last flight home.
"The Army has a motto of leave no man behind and this drives that home for me. I hadn't realized the extent they go to make sure that people return," said Arnett’s cousin, Carolyn Arnett Rocchio.
"That's why we do it, these guys deserve to be found and nobody else is looking for them," said Joyce.
Lt. Arnett's remains will stay in the church's memorial gardens until next April when they hope to reunite him with all 11 of his crew members at Arlington National Cemetery.
Arnett was the fourth member of the crew to have funeral services this year.
Remains of eight have been discovered so far.
Search teams believe the other three jumped out over land and were executed, but say they are close to discovering their remains.
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