The German WWII pilot, whose remains were found by the side of his aircraft in Birkelse in Jutland two weeks ago, has now been identified as 19-year-old corporal Hans Wunderlich.
Although his dog-tags were missing and there was no serial number on the recovered parts of his aircraft, Deutsche Dienststelle in Berlin were able to positively identify him from information in his soldier’s book and through a handwritten note on the cover of a ration book, reports NORDJYSKE Stiftstidende.
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Wunderlich was born in Neusorg near the Czech border on 22 July 1925, and according to German archives he crashed on 10 October 1944. The incident was described as a “fatal crash in swampy ground. Recovery efforts were halted as they were in vain.”
Both Wunderlich’s parents and his sister are dead, and as the pilot was unmarried and childless, there are no immediate descendants. The pilot’s remains are at present in the forensic pathology department of Aarhus University.
The German war graves authority will now decide what to do with the body, but according to Lieutenant Colonel Hans Söchtig of the Deutsche Dienststelle, “he will probably be laid to rest in a war cemetery in Denmark.”
