During a bombing mission in late 1944, 21-year-old U.S. Army Air Forces Tech.Sgt. Clarence E. Gibbs of Charlotte, N.C., was aboard a B-17G “Flying Fortress” when the plane was hit by enemy fighters and the crew of nine bailed out. One was found dead near the crash site, five were captured and taken as German POW’s and three, including Gibbs, were unaccounted for.

When no records of the three were found in the Department of Defense POW/Missing in Action Agency (DPAA) records, which searches for and recovers fallen personnel in Europe, the agency started looking at crash and burial sites in the area.

Meanwhile, while family was doing their genealogy, Ann Gillespie, raised in Laurens as Elizabeth Ann Merck, submitted her DNA to Ancestry.com. She and her cousin, Cindy Sanders of Laurens, knew they had a great-uncle who died in World War II but had little information on his life. Gibbs was her grandmother’s brother. 

“I got a call a few years after I did that and they told me they were researching it. I really didn’t think much of it. I didn’t think they’d find anything,” Gillespie said. “My grandmother and mom had always said he died in a plane crash over the Rhine. Thank God she didn’t know what really happened.”

Gillespie said every few years she’d get a phone call or a letter telling her the latest status of their search. In March of 2025, she got a call that was stunning.DPAA had found and identified Gibbs’ remains. 

“I was really surprised. We never thought they’d find him and we definitely didn’t know the whole story,” Gillespie said.

Research indicated the three remaining unknown U.S. soldiers were captured by SS troops near Kamp-Bornhofen and DPAA started excavation of a burial site in the Kamp-Bornhofen Cemetery. It was there they found Gibbs’ remains. 

“DPAA said he was likely killed by other prisoners for their possessions. We feel like the SS soldiers would have taken anything of value from them beforehand.Either way, it was December in Germany. They had coats, shoes and warm clothes. We believe they didn’t make it through the night and was then thrown in a hole with other prisoners who had died,” Gillespie said.

Gibbs is coming home and Gillespie and Sanders, his oldest living relatives today, will see that he gets a proper military burial. At 11 a.m. July 26, Gibbs will be laid to rest at Pinelawn Memorial Garden in Clinton.

The U.S. military sent Sanders the medals Gibbs would have received and Medals of America in Fountain Inn put a rush order on a custom shadow box to hold the medals. It will be displayed in the Hall of Heroes at the Laurens County Courthouse for 12 months before being returned to the family.

Gillespie is just glad it all turned out the way it did. “It’s been 80 years. Cindy and I know the story but I don’t know if our children would have known about him. If I hadn’t done the DNA test, I don’t know that DPAA would have ever connected him to us,” Gillespie said. “It’s amazing that our government is still out there looking for them and they said they have found a lot of remains. Half the battle is finding the soldiers family so it’s important to submit DNA for them to connect.”

This summer, Gibbs’ family can finally bury him and those who come to the cemetery on July 26 can show him the respect and honor he deserves. His name is on the Walls of the Missing at Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France, along with others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to show he has now been accounted for.