Lost in 1944, WWII Flyer Will Be Laid to Rest in Washington

FORT KNOX, Ky. – U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Loyst M. Towner, 24, missing in action during World War II,will be interred July 29, at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Washington. Services and interment are being coordinated by Marlatt Funeral Home.

In March 1944, Towner was assigned to the 64th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group in Italy. On March 24, he was piloting a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter during a dive-bombing mission with other P-47s near Civitacecchia, a coastal city northwest of Rome. After the planes attacked the target, they were engaged by enemy aircraft. Towner was last seen at 11:15 a.m. with two enemy planes on his tail. He never returned to base and the area in which he disappeared was under German control, so an immediate search could not be conducted. There is no record he was ever a prisoner of war. The War Department issued a presumptive finding of death for Towner in August 1945.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Towner on Aug. 26, 2025.

For more information on DPAA’s efforts to locate and identify Towner, please visit: [https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4412102/pilot-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-towner-l/](https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4412102/pilot-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-towner-l/).

U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch plays a vital role in the process of identifying, locating and contacting subsequent generation family members of Soldiers missing or killed in action during WWII and the Korean War to positively identify previously undiscovered or unknown remains.

Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact Marlatt Funeral Home at (253) 852-2620.