Airmen's Remains Scheduled For Burial

Tuesday, April 24th 2007, 5:46 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The remains of an Oklahoma airman killed when his bomber crashed in Laos in 1969 will be buried Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday.

U.S. Air Force Col. Norman D. Eaton of Weatherford and Lt. Col. Paul E. Getchell, of Portland, Maine, were flying a B-57B Canberra bomber in Salavan Province, Laos, on Jan. 13, 1969, when the plane crashed, defense officials said.

A joint United States-Lao People's Democratic Republic team surveyed the site in 1995 and discovered wreckage and materials from the crew. In 2003, the team recovered Eaton's identification and two years later found Getchell's identification tag, human remains and other items.

Scientists used mitochondrial DNA to identify the remains, defense officials said.