Officials say the remains of a fallen World War II soldier from New Jersey have finally been found

On Monday, officials said the case of a New Jersey resident who died during World War II had recently been resolved.

The Defense POW/MIA accounting agency reported that the remains of US Army Air Force 2nd Lieutenant William Scott, who died during the war at the age of 21, were identified in 2022.

Scott, a resident of Passaic, was piloting a plane in Romania on August 1, 1943, when a bomb hit him near the capital of Bucharest. The attack was part of Operation Tidal Wave – a mass attack on Romanian oil refineries that resulted in the deaths of over 300 soldiers.

At the time of his death, his remains could not be identified, so he was buried as an unknown fallen hero in the civil-military cemetery in Bolovan, Romania.

Scott’s remains were those of unknown soldiers who were later exhumed and re-examined. On November 28, 2022, scientists at Offutt Air Force Base in Sarpy County, Nebraska, identified the remains as Scott’s. His family was recently told about the identification, prompting the public announcement, DPAA officials said.

Scott’s remains will be buried Dec. 9 at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Cemetery in Wrightstown.