St. Pete World War II pilot's remains return home 80 years he was shot down: 'This Veterans Day is for you'

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - It took 80 years, but an Army pilot from St. Petersburg finally returned home. 

Lt. Gilbert Myers was shot down over Italy in 1943, and his remains were buried in St. Pete on Friday, just before Veterans Day. 

"I think [I'll remember most] how much this meant to others besides the immediate family," said his niece Jean Corey. "That this is a community event."

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Lt. Myers was born in Pittsburgh in 1916. The Great Depression sent his family looking for work, which is when they resettled in St. Pete in 1936. 

Gilbert enlisted in 1940 and left for service on December 2, 1941. Pearl Harbor was five days later. 

He wrote to his family in 1942: "Many are doing a lot of talking and hell, it's action that counts."

"To be able to go from just being a regular guy in St. Pete to flying aircraft in World War II. I find that pretty remarkable," said his grand-nephew, Doug Corey.

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On July 10, 1943, as the Allies began coming ashore in Sicily, Lt. Myers was charged with softening Axis defenses from the air. After he dropped rounds of bombs, anti-aircraft fire hit him, and he went down with his B25. 

American crews later found his plane, but could never confirm the remains were his – he simply never came back home.

"She didn't talk a lot to us kids when we were small about anything like that," Doug Corey said of his grandmother. "And so we kind of picked up over the years to see really what happened."

The crash site was investigated in the early part of 2022 by the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency. Remains were found, and matched with DNA from Myers' family.

"All of a sudden, we're trying to create a person that we never met," said Jean Corey. "There's no one alive today that we know of who ever met him."

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His remains were brought to St. Pete, and the DPMAA arranged for this funeral 80 years after his sacrifice that helped defeat fascism and allow for democracy's rebirth in huge swaths of the world.

"We are so lucky to live in a country that still sets as a high purpose, bringing home and honoring everyone who serves," said Jean Corey.

It took 80 years, but America's commitment to Lt. Gilbert Myers has been fulfilled.

"This Veteran's Day is for you," said Doug Corey.