Coolest assignment I've ever had

A few months back, I had the terrible job of telling a wife and three daughters -- one almost exactly the same age as mine -- their father was dead. He'd drank himself unconscious Thanksgiving weekend and apparently choked on his vomit after exhibiting signs he'd fallen off the wagon. It was a really hard thing to do, especially since I'd recently lost two friends in a crash at Ft. Hood. I struggled with that for quite some time, and went to grief counseling a couple of times for it.

But it gets really freaking awesome tomorrow when I depart Ft. Riley for an Army remains identification facility in Omaha. There, I'll meet Captain Arthur Halfpapp and escort him on Tuesday to Harrisburg, where he'll be laid to rest later this week at a national cemetery in Indiantown Gap.

Just a few days before the end of World War II, Halfpapp was shot down in his P-47 Thunderbolt after engaging a convoy of vehicles along the Po River in Italy. He'd recently been awarded the highest flight decoration, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and three Air Medals.

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Wow, that does sound like an interesting assignment.

My aunt has spent years trying to locate the remains of her father, who was part of a B-17 crew that was shot down off the coast of Holland while returning from a mission over Germany. They've gotten the general location, but have never been able to pinpoint the exact location of the wreckage.