'Little Steps': Family's Plight Brings Missing Airman Home After 80 Years

CHICAGO, IL — Joan Kempiak admits it—they were so close to giving up.

Kempiak and her husband Bill had spent years searching for information on her husband's uncle, a U.S. Army Air Force airman lost when his plane was shot down over Germany in World War II. Second Lt. Robert L. E. Porter was just 23 years old and a navigator onboard a B-24J "Liberator" when heavy anti-aircraft fire brought it down over Gotha, Germany on Feb. 4, 1944. His remains were initially not found, and after a year listed as missing in action, Porter was declared dead.

His remaining family made it their mission to find and bring Porter's remains home, but as time passed, it seemed nearly impossible.

"After 80 years, we had pretty much given up hope," Kempiak told Patch. "Little steps ... little steps, trying to find information."

Their plight spanned years, with Porter's family taking deep dives into whatever sources they could find. They contacted the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), a US Department of Defense agency that works to recover and identify American military personnel who are missing in action or listed as prisoners of war from past conflicts.

Slowly, the pieces began falling into place. First, the Department of Defense found the plane wreckage. Then in December 2023, Porter's remains were identified. The family was notified in January 2024.

"We never thought it would happen in our lifetime, even," Kempiak said. Kempiak is 73; her husband is 79.

"My husband was just shocked when they found the plane—he never even thought that would happen."

Porter's remains returned to Chicago Friday, June 7, when he received an escort from Midway Airport, to an Orland Park funeral home and then again on Monday, June 10, to his resting place in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood.

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'There was just no way out'

Kempiak's telling of that day in February 1944 is vivid, backed by witness accounts and the research her family has painstakingly pieced together.

Porter—whose commander was actor Jimmy Stewart—was assigned to the 703rd Bombardment Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force in the European Theater. They had been sent to bomb a German airplane factory, Kempiak said, and were to have had a bomber escort. That escort was late, Kempiak said, but they carried on with the mission.

"... they dropped their bombs, but when they came back out, there were hundreds of planes that just annihilated them," Kempiak said.

One of the flyers who witnessed the plane get hit said that it inverted at impact. When the pilot righted the plane, one flyer fell from the bomb bay doors, Kempiak said.

A surviving crew member reported seeing the plane on fire and in a steep dive, before eventually exploding on the ground. While two crew members survived, the others, including Porter, were killed. The two surviving were taken captive by German forces.

"Robert was a navigator, he was right underneath the pilot," Kempiak said. "There was just no way out, once it started a nose dive. Then it just exploded."

According to the Department of Defense, many times locals that would find crash sites, or saw a crash site, would bury the remains of the American soldiers in local cemeteries. In March 1952, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, took custody of comingled unidentified remains recovered from Bad Salzungen Cemetery. These remains were believed to be those belonging to 2nd Lt. Porter’s downed aircraft. At the time, identification of these remains was not possible, and they were interred in the Ardennes America Cemetery, Belgium, the DPAA reported.

In June 2021, DPAA historians and American Battle Monuments Commission personnel exhumed the remains, and they were transferred to the DPAA lab for analysis and identification. To identify Porter, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

"It’s just amazing what these people do," Kempiak said. "They have teeth, jawbones, finger bones—if family has given them DNA, then it’s very painstakingly, little bits by little bits that they can find and trace back to family.

"It’s unbelievable."

Porter was the oldest of four born to parents Wilbur and Lillian. His sisters were Florence Kempiak, Elenore Brogie and Lillian Dolan, all deceased. Mother Lillian died in childbirth for the youngest. Florence Kempiak was Joan's mother-in-law— and it was Florence's mitochondrial DNA that most strongly linked the remains to Porter.

"The mitochondrial DNA to a female sibling is stronger," Kempiak said. "Her DNA was a stronger match than my husband’s."

'It's come to a good thing'

Most of Porter's family is gone now.

Married to Ethel prior to his deployment, the two conceived one daughter, named Sharon Ann. Porter died in February 1944; his daughter Sharon was born in July of that same year. She died in the early 2000s, Kempiak said.

Ethel remarried and had four more children. One of the daughters, who lived with Ethel until her death, shared documents and information with Kempiak, including a letter sent to Ethel informing her Porter was missing in action, and then another a year and one day later that declared him deceased.

The murkiness around his death hung heavy over his siblings, especially following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Kempiak said.

"Florence started having panic attacks," Kempiak said, "because it reminded her of when Bob went missing. That is what spurred Bill on to finish this task."

Porter was a decorated airman, Kempiak said, with medals including a Purple Heart and a Presidential Unit Citation. Kempiak can clearly picture a photo of Ethel Porter published in a Chicago newspaper, seen holding their daughter Sharon while one of Porter's medals is pinned on her.

Now nearly 80 years later, Porter receieved a welcome home befitting his bravery. On Friday, June 7, Porter's remains were escorted from Midway airport by local first responders, as well as motorcycles from Rolling Thunder Inc. Illinois, Patriot Guard Riders, American Legion Riders, the VFW and Combat Vets travelling through the towns of Burbank, Chicago Ridge, Oak Lawn, Worth, and Palos Heights to Lawn Funeral Home, 7732 W 159th St., in Orland Park.

Visitation and prayers will be held Monday, June 10 at 10:30 a.m., at Lawn Funeral Home. At 11:30 a.m., the hearse will be escorted to Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, in Elwood.

Porter's remains will be buried with full military honors.

Kempiak is relieved to bring him home—an honor so many other soldiers' families might not have the opportunity to experience.

"There’s so many more soldiers out there that are out there waiting to be identified," Kempiak said. "They never even found his dog tags. ...

Finding and identifying Porter's remains was a conclusion she never thought they'd reach.

"We just never thought that was going to happen in our lifetime," she said. "... They’re all together up in Heaven, anyway. They know everything that happened. It’s just closure for the rest of us, and peace for him.

"Years and years of research, but it’s come to a good thing."