MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced on Friday, September 8th that WWll U.S. Army Air Forces Flight Officer Chester L. Rinke of Marquette, Michigan was accounted for on May 5, 2023.
In 1944, Rinke was assigned to the 678th Bombardment Squadron, 444th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy), 58th Bombardment Wing, and the Twentieth Bomber Command.
On June 26, while serving as the flight officer on the B-29 Superfortress, Rinke crashed into a rice paddy in the village of Sapekhati, India after a bombing raid on imperial iron and steel works at Yawata, Kyushu Island, Japan where all 11 crew members were killed in the crash.
To identify Rinke’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as a material analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), analysis. Chester L. Rinke will be buried at Seville, Ohio, on a date still to be determined.
