NBC 7’s Kelvin Henry shares the story of Walter “Uncle Bert” Mintus, who was honored on Memorial Day in San Diego 72 Years after he went missing in action.
Naval Aviator Radioman 3rd Class Walter “Uncle Bert” Mintus was honored during Mount Soledad's annual Memorial Day Ceremony on Monday.
Walter Mintus was born on July 21, 1921 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942. He was assigned as a radioman to the Torpedo Squadron 51 of the U.S. Navy.
On July 27, 1944, Walter Mintus and other service members took off from USS San Jacinto on a bombing mission to Malakal Island, an island in the state of Koror, Palau, which is in the western Pacific Ocean.
While on that mission, their plane was shot down over the South Pacific Ocean. The three men aboard were presumed dead on Feb. 4, 1946.
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Seventy years later, Project Recover located the downed plane and DNA testing was used to locate the remains of Walter Mintus.
In June of 2018, his remains were finally returned to his family.
Walter Mintus' great niece, Kathy Coder, who was at the ceremony, recalled the process of returning Mintus' remains to his family.
“Project Recover, when we were going through this and we got contacted, my dad started talking to them and Pat Scannon, who runs it and all the people," Coder said.
"We feel that there was closure for our family, but it opened up a whole new family and that family is Project Recover,” Coder said.
Over 200 people, including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and District 1 Councilmember Joe LaCava, were present at the ceremony that saw people honoring Mintus and all fallen service members.
