Remains of an unidentified WWII airman leave a Sitka grave for a lab that may name him

A Defense Department team recovered the remains of an unidentified World War II airman from a grave at Sitka National Cemetery this summer and sent them to a government lab in Omaha, Nebraska, where forensic analysis could reveal who he was.

The airman is believed to have been aboard a Douglas C-53B Skytrooper, a military version of the DC-3 airliner, that went down in the Bering Sea during the war, Alaska Airlines said in a release Tuesday describing its role.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which searches for and identifies missing service members, was looking for remains in two unidentified graves at the cemetery. It found them in only one, the airline said.

The agency's briefing material lists five World War II unknowns buried at Sitka National Cemetery, believed to be U.S. service members whose remains were recovered but couldn't be identified. Before the agency disinters one, it looks for several lines of evidence that the remains are more likely than not to be identified by medical means.

The agency asked Alaska Airlines' Military, Veterans and Allies Business Resource Group, an employee group, for help getting its people and equipment to Sitka. Hawaiian Airlines flew them from Honolulu to Seattle, and Alaska flew them on to Sitka.

Employees of both airlines then saw the remains from Sitka to Omaha under the Fallen Soldier Program, which Alaska Airlines employees started in 2011 to honor U.S. service members on their final journey.

The airline said the work could bring a family answers after generations of waiting.