Memorial

More information

T/Sgt James M. Triplett attended college and was a post office clerk.

He enlisted in Tacoma, Washington on 24 February 1943.

After successfully dropping its bombs, the aircraft was on its return flight when its formation was attacked by numerous German fighter planes. During the ensuing air battle, this B-24 was badly damaged and several crew members were wounded. A fire started near the bomb bay and three crew members bailed out. These men survived and were taken prisoner. The remaining six crew members are believed to have gone down with the plane or were lost while attempting to bail out.

T/Sgt Triplett was officially declared dead one day and one year after he was reported missing in action.

Following the war, the crash site was discovered by the American Graves Registration Command outside Richelsdorf, Germany. An identification tag and human remains were discovered in 1951, but they could not be identified at the time and were interred as Unknowns. In 1951, American Graves Registration (ARGC) investigators discovered the crash site of T/Sgt Triplett's Liberator and recovered two sets of human remains. These could not be identified with the technology available and were interred as unknowns. Later, DPAA historians determined that these remains were strong candidates for identification, and they were sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established an association between one set of these unknown remains and T/Sgt Triplett.

On 25 October 2022, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that T/Sgt Charles C. Palmer is accounted for.

T/Sgt Triplett was given his final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery on 31 October 2023.