The remains of a missing World War II airman will return home decades after he was declared missing in action ...
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LABELLE -- A World War II airman is finally returning home decades after declared missing in action.
Army Air Forces Second Lieutenant Pharis E. Weekley, a former Bradley Junction resident, went missing after the B-24 plane he was navigating in 1943 failed to return to the Benghazi, Libya, air station after a raid, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). His plane, the Liberator, was one of 51 planes that didn’t return and sadly his remains were not identified after the war. Weekley was only 21-years-old.
DPPA reported on Feb. 27 that he was finally identified in July of 2022.
The American Legion Post 130 in LaBelle will recognize Weekley’s service along with his family with a on Saturday, May 13, with a motorcycle and car procession from Post 69 Avon Park, south to Post 130.
People are asked to form a line from the foot of Barron Park in LaBelle to Post 130 with flags and yellow ribbons for his family as they return to LaBelle.
Post 130, named Dana-Howard-Weekley Post 130, will be hosting a welcome home picnic around noon and asks for attendees to contribute a covered dish. Meat will be provided.
Stories and photos from Weekley’s family will be shared as well as the background of how they brought him home. A 50/50 and raffle baskets will be available to help offset the costs of the event.
To join the Motorcycle and Car Procession May 13 , contact either Post 130 at 863-675-8300 or Post 69 at 850-718-7773 (Larry Roberts) for more information.
According to DPPA, Weekley was assigned to the 329th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force.
In the summer of 1943 his plane, the Liberator, was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE which was the largest bombing mission against the refineries and oil fields at Ploiesti north of Bucharest, Romania.
His remains, along with others that couldn’t be identified, were buried as Unknowns in the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan’s Hero Section in Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
After the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) searched for and recovered fallen American personnel, disinterred American remains from the cemetery for identification, identifying more than 80 unknowns.
It wasn’t until 2017 that the DPAA started exhuming unknowns thought to be associated with Operation TIDAL WAVE losses, sending remains to its laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for examination and identification.
Weekley’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Weekley will be buried in Avon Park, Fla., on May 20.
