MILLINOCKET, Maine — The remains of a Millinocket man killed while serving in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II will be buried in Millinocket on Oct. 9.
U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Ernest N. Vienneau was a pilot assigned to the 240th Bombardment Squadron, 97th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force, based in Amendola, Italy, the U.S. Amy said Tuesday.
On Nov. 6, 1944, when Vienneau was 25, he was co-piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber over Maribor, Yugoslavia -- now Slovenia -- when it came under heavy fire and he was hit in the head by a piece of flak that penetrated the cockpit.
While he was being treated for the injury, his co-pilot attempted to fly the damaged B-17 back to base but was forced to ditch off the coast of Vis Island, Croatia.
Ten crew members survived but Vienneau's body was not recovered.
His remains were not recovered until June 2017 when the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, working with Lone Wolf Productions to film the underwater excavation of a B-24 Liberator plane wreck off Vis Island.
Enough evidence was collected during a dive to plan for recovery of Vienneau's B-17. His remains were recovered in the fall of 2020 and identified through evidence on April 16, 2021.
Vienneau's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Impruneta, Italy.
Funeral services on Oct. 9 will be performed by Lamson Funeral Home of Lincoln.
