On August 1, 1943, the US Army Air Force launched a daring raid on one of the Nazi military's most valuable resources.
Nazi-controlled oil fields and refinery were supposed to be destroyed in the operation. 1,725 airmen took off in 177 bombers.
The nickname "Black Sunday" was given to the day when more than 200 US airmen were killed in the attack on the small town of Ploieti.
Many of the fallen airmen were not found.
The US Department of Defense's POW/MIA Accounting Agency has been using archival research and modern forensic techniques to account for airmen still missing from the 1943 mission.
The remains of 19 Tidal Wave airmen have been identified by the "Ploieti Unknowns Project".
The Pentagon has identified five airmen in the last 3 months.
The stakes were high for the first large-scale, low-altitude raid against a well-defended target.
One-third of the Reich's oil was produced by the oil fields and refinery spread across the 18- square-mile complex.
At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, Allied leaders decided to destroy Hitler's gas station in order to slow the movement of troops and supplies. They were aware that the mission would cost a lot.
In Libya, airmen from different bomb groups lived in tents in the desert for training.
A life-size replica of the refinery complex has crews running simulations. Wood and canvas were used to build models of their targets. The airmen were taught how to use the B-24's long range and heavy payloads for the flight to Romania.
The mission was even more dangerous despite the preparation.
The airmen were tight on fuel, flying lower and longer than usual, and had to deal with maintenance issues caused by sand in their engines.
Only half of the airmen in the 44th Bomb Group were likely to survive, according to the commander. The target was so important that if we lost all of the attacking force it would be worth it.
Airmen were told that a single raid could shorten the war by six months.
On August 1st, crews began taking off from Libya, flying in formation across the Mediterranean towards their targets. Waves of B 24s followed each other.
The path to Ploieti didn't go as expected. squadrons off course due to navigation issues The Germans were more prepared for the raid than the Allies expected.
German resistance included barrage balloons. Smoke pots were set ablaze in the bomber's path to obscure targets.
Black smoke made it difficult to see as the B-24s dropped their bombs. They flew so low they had to aim their guns at the buildings.
Anti-aircraft guns hidden among train tracks, oil tanks, and surrounding fields greeted the vulnerable bombers as they streaked towards their targets.
The USAAF's ability to carry out large-scale offensive bombing raids came at a high cost.
The Germans had the refinery up and running within three months after the raid. The US Army Air Force did not attempt another raid against the Germans.
The majority of the bombers didn't come back. The remains of some airmen who had died were collected by the Germans. There was a horrible scene around Ploieti.
Allied forces struggled to recover the scattered, badly burned bodies because the bomber flew in waves and had separate targets.
Christine said that they crashed all over the place. Most of the people were killed as they were flying so low.
The fallen airmen were buried in the Civilian and Military Cemetery in Ploiesti and in a number of smaller villages.
The American Graves registration command tried to recover fallen Americans.
The remains of US airmen were exhumed in the area. German POWs were often asked to dig up the graves.
It was difficult to identify the remains due to the conditions of their burials. Dog tags and other evidence of the identity of each soldier was often missing.
The bones were sent to France and Belgium to be analyzed. Scientists were able to identify what was left of the airmen's mouths using dental work.
The US government stopped searching for World War II remains in the early 1950s. Over 80 US airmen were killed in the line of duty.
The remains were stored in Belgium for almost 50 years.
The video is called "operation tidal wave".
A 21st-century change in government policy allowed for forensic identification of dead soldiers. The DPAA launched the latest effort to exhume and identify the remains of the Tidal Wave airmen.
The way bodies were buried during the war made it difficult to identify them.
The Department of Defense should approve the disinterment of specific remains if there is a good chance that a successful identification will be made.
She studies the raid and peruses photos of remains, aerial imagery, maps and airmen's files, using evidence and a lot of excel spreadsheets to narrow down who each unknown airman could be.
When disinterment is approved, the bones are sent to an anthropologist in Nebraska, where they try to match them to a specific file.
When the lab team leads by Megan Ingvoldstad is confident about a specific match, a US Army genealogist contacts family members, sharing details and requesting DNA samples to compare to the bones.
The 17th time the Unknowns Project team matched unidentified remains to an unknown Tidal Wave airman was announced last week.
The leader of the 93rd Bombardment Group was a pilot named Baker. He was hit by an anti-aircraft shell as he was approaching his target.
Baker continued to lead his formation toward the target. Baker tried to climb high enough for his crew to bail after his crew unleashed their bombs. All 10 crew members were killed despite their best efforts. Baker was posthumously awarded a medal of honor.
In April, Baker's nephews, who knew their uncle before he went to war, joined other family members and Army representatives to celebrate the news that Baker had been accounted for.
One important way to honor the ultimate sacrifice made by those airmen is through the efforts of her team.
It is important for me to be able to tell the families of the missing what happened. It's our job to find them and bring them back to us.
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