WWII Marine finally to be laid to rest
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jan 17, 2009 15:03:51 EST

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A World War II veteran who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean 65 years ago will finally be laid to rest in his native South Carolina.

Maj. Marion Ryan McCown Jr. will be buried Sunday after a memorial service at the Unitarian Church in Charleston. The Post & Courier of Charleston reported Saturday that the Marines Corps is giving McCown a full military burial, including a fly-over by F-18 Hornets.

McCown was a Marine aviator stationed in the Pacific during the war. He had been missing since Jan. 20, 1944, when he volunteered to escort a bombing mission in his Corsair F-4U.

Last year, a Joint Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command team found his plane and remains on a mountainous hillside in New Guinea.

Ellie