LOS ANGELES — After 80 years, a sergeant who died in Germany during World War II returns to his California birthplace.
On Thursday, community members lined the road to honor U.S. Army Air Force Tech. Sgt. Donald V. Banta as he was taken from Ontario International Airport to a cemetery in Riverside, California.
Banta, 21, was killed in early 1944 when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Gotha, Germany, according to Honoring Our Fallen, an organization that provides support to families of fallen service members and emergency responders.
One of the surviving crew members saw the plane on fire, then crashed in a steep dive and exploded on the ground. After the crash, German troops buried the remains of one soldier in a local cemetery, while the other six crew members, including Banta, were missing.
Banta was married and had four sisters and a brother. He joined the army because of his older brother Floyd Jack Banta, who searched for Donald Banta his whole life, but died before he was found.
Donald Banta’s niece attended the honor ceremony at the Ontario airport, coordinated by Honouring Our Fallen.
The remains of the plane crash were initially recovered in 1952, but could not be identified at the time and were buried in Belgium. Banta was accounted for on September 26, 2023, following efforts by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.