Relocation

Anel B. Shay, Jr., was born in Aberdeen, WA, on 11/12/1916. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: Washington, U.S., Birth Index, 1907-1919 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002, accessed 02/10/2022.)

He attended the University of Washington in Seattle (UW), studying architecure. He registered for military service at Kodiak, AK., on 02/03/1941,while he worked as a draftsman for the Siems-Drake Puget Sound Company. Siems-Drake served as the civilian contractor working with the Detroit architectural firm Albert Kahn, Incorporated on the Kodiak Naval Operating Base in AK. Kahn (1869-1942) would die in December of 1942.

joining the US Army Air Forces. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Alaska, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 18, accessed 02/10/2022.) He became a bombardier attaining the rank of Second Lieutenant. According to the US military's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA): ":In the summer of 1943, Shay was assigned to the 345th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Shay was serving as a bombardier crashed as a result of enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following the war. The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania." He died on 08/01/1943 at the age 26. His wartime service earned Shay the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, and a Purple Heart.

His remains, along with those of other servicemen, were disinterred in Romania and reinterred at the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial Florence, Città Metropolitana di Firenze, Toscana, Italy.

Around 2020, the DPAA examined his remains at its laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, NE. where positive identification was made through dental and anthropolofical records and maternal and paternal DNA analysis. The DPAA announced that it had identified Shay's remains on 06/28/2021, nearly 78 years after his death. His remains would be reburied in Seattle, WA, for burial.

Biographical Notes

Shay stood 5-feet, 4-inches tall, and weighed 132 pounds.He had a light Caucasian complexion, brown hair and blue eyes. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Alaska, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 18, accessed 02/10/2022.)