China Hands Over Remains of U.S. Airmen Found Along WWII Hump Route
On November 10, 2026, in Chengdu, China, Chinese authorities formally handed over eight bone fragments believed to belong to U.S. airmen missing since World War II. The remains were discovered by a search team from the privately run Jianchuan Museum during expeditions to the glaciers of Nyingchi in China's Xizang Autonomous Region, along the historic Hump Route. This air corridor, stretching from northeastern India to Kunming, China, was a vital supply line for Allied forces supporting China's resistance against Japanese aggression from 1942 to 1945. The route was notoriously dangerous, earning the nickname 'death route,' and more than 1,000 Chinese and American aircrew members lost their lives there. He Jiang, director of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Archives, and U.S. Navy Captain Colin Alexander Eliot, a forensic expert with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), signed a document confirming the transfer. The identities of the airmen are yet to be established, and the DPAA will conduct DN...
