SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines helped bring home the remains of four servicemembers who were killed when their Air Force plane smashed into a mountain 66 years ago.
The flight was heading from McChord Airfield in Washington State to Anchorage, Alaska when it crashed and disappeared in November of 1952, killing all 52 people on board.
The plane crashed into a mountain not far from its destination.
The wreckage and remains of all on board vanished until 2012 when an Alaska National Guard helicopter spotted debris scattered along nearby Colony Glacier.
Now, search teams are uncovering clues and helping bring closure to families of the fallen.
The shifting and melting ice started revealing bits of the Air Force plane and those it carried.
Each June, military search teams scour the glacier, searching for more artifacts and remains.
“It's very tedious work, these guys are out here six days a week, they're committed to the mission,” said Capt. Jason Collier, a planner with Alaska Command, in 2016.
They were out on the ice again last month and discovered additional victims of the crash.
This week, Alaska Airlines carried four sets of unidentified remains from Anchorage to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for examination and testing.
That process allows the Air Force to return fallen servicemen to their families.
19-year-old Airman 2nd Class Verne Budahn was one of the most recent names to emerge from the ice. The Air Force identified him using a jaw bone and dog tags recovered from the glacier this summer.
Budahn arrived in Minnesota last week, where his family was finally able to lay him to rest.