Forum: Air Power

WWII Airman Laid to Rest after 68 Years MIA



Search Search  Register Register  Private Messages Private Messages
guidelines Forum Guidelines
Post new topic   Reply to topic   
View previous topic Log in to check your private messages View next topic
Author Message
tbarlow
PostPosted: Feb 19, 2011 - 12:49 PM Reply with quote Back to top
Active Member
Active Member


Joined: Nov 05, 2007 - 12:35 AM
Posts: 224
Location: San Antonio, Tx
Status: Offline
http://www.kens5.com/news/local/WWII-Ai ... 20148.html

by Nadia Ramdass / KENS 5
kens5.com
Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:30 PM

SAN ANTONIO -- An emotional first hello and a goodbye all on the same day. Charmaine Lake Wade, 67, a woman who never met her military father, made peace with his death today.

Charmaine Lake Wade's father disappeared during World War II when she was just a baby. Now after nearly seven decades, she seems to now have closure.

"I'm so very proud that he served his country," Wade said.

Standing next to an American flag draped casket is the closest Wade has been to her father in nearly 68-years.

"I'm so sorry that he didn't live, but I'm so happy he came home," Wade said.

On October 27, 1943, twenty-five year old 2nd Lieutenant Edward J. Lake was among 12 crew members missing in action. This occurred when their B-24D liberator crashed in New Guinea while serving in World War II.

His daughter drove to San Antonio from Corpus Christi on Friday for a private meeting at a south side funeral home. This represented an introduction and a farewell to her dad.

"He was killed when I was three months old and so I never saw him and he never saw me," Wade said.

Wade eventually got married and started a family. But the disappearance of her father was always a mystery, until a phone call from a genealogist in 2005.

"He said he had been looking for me because the army thought they had found the plane that my father was on when it was reported missing,” Wade said.

After years of testing Lake’s remains, he was positively identified in 2010.

“It's just amazing. They take bone fragments. That's all they had were bone fragments," Wade said.

This Tuesday, the airman's remains arrived in San Antonio with a military escort for burial. Lake, who would have turned 93 years of age this year, will receive a burial with full military honors and a flyover. It's a sight Wade wishes her mother, who passed away in 1982, could experience firsthand.

"I wish she could have been here to see this I really do wish she had," Wade said.

On Saturday, February 19th, a funeral mass is scheduled for 2nd Lt. Lake at 12:30 pm at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church. He will then be laid to rest at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery at 2:30 pm.
 View user's profile Send private message  
 
Sponsor
New postPosted: May 19, 2013 - 9:12 AM Back to top
F-16.net Sponsor





  Send private message  
 
Display posts from previous:     
Jump to:  
All times are GMT + 1 Hour
Post new topic   Reply to topic
View previous topic Log in to check your private messages View next topic