San Jose resident Sandy Bellou remembers her mom crying every time she spoke about her older brother, 2nd Lt. Robert McCollum, a 22-year-old U.S. Military Air Power bombardier whose physique went lacking after his aircraft crashed throughout a bombing run in Europe in June 1944.
“It was devastating for her,” mentioned Bellou, 75, who was born six years after her uncle’s aircraft went down. “They had no other siblings.”
Bellou’s grandparents moved to San Jose from Tennessee within the Sixties to be close to their grandchildren. They died with out understanding whether or not their son died within the crash, was captured and held prisoner or simply disappeared. However Sandy Bellou, alongside together with her brother, Dale Bergman, and sister, Brenda Bergman, can now relaxation a bit simpler with the data that their uncle is lastly again residence.
A procession travels with the stays of Lt. Robert McCollum, a US Military Air Power officer, who died throughout World Conflict II, at Oak Hill Funeral Dwelling & Memorial Park in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)
Individuals watch with the American flag because the stays of Lt. Robert McCollum, a US Military Air Power officer, who died throughout World Conflict II, are delivered to Oak Hill Funeral Dwelling & Memorial Park in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)
A portrait of U.S. Military Air Power 2nd Lt. Robert T. McCollum. McCollum’s aircraft crashed within the Baltic Sea close to Denmark in June 1944, and his stays had been repatriated to San Jose on April 24, 2025. (Courtesy William and Sandy Bellou)
Individuals watch with the American flag because the stays of Lt. Robert McCollum, a US Military Air Power officer, who died throughout World Conflict II, are delivered to Oak Hill Funeral Dwelling & Memorial Park in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)
Individuals watch with American flags because the stays of Lt. Robert McCollum, a US Military Air Power officer, who died throughout World Conflict II, are delivered to Oak Hill Funeral Dwelling & Memorial Park in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)
2nd Lt. Robert T. McCollum stands in his uniform on this undated {photograph}. McCollum’s aircraft crashed within the Baltic Sea close to Denmark in June 1944, and his stays had been repatriated to San Jose on April 24, 2025. (Courtesy William and Sandy Bellou)
2nd Lt. Robert T. McCollum works on a typewriter on this undated {photograph}. McCollum’s aircraft crashed within the Baltic Sea close to Denmark in June 1944, and his stays had been repatriated to San Jose on April 24, 2025. (Courtesy William and Sandy Bellou)
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A procession travels with the stays of Lt. Robert McCollum, a US Military Air Power officer, who died throughout World Conflict II, at Oak Hill Funeral Dwelling & Memorial Park in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)
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McCollum’s stays arrived at San Jose Mineta Worldwide Airport on Thursday and had been taken in a procession to Oak Hill Memorial Park. He will probably be buried Could 3, not removed from the graves of his dad and mom and his sister, Ethel Mae Bergman, who served within the U.S. Navy throughout World Conflict II. The honour service will embrace a 21-gun salute and bagpipers, and it’s doable there may also be a navy flyover.
Final June, Bellou acquired a name from the navy asking about her uncle and if she would submit a DNA pattern that could possibly be in comparison with his stays, ought to they ever be discovered. After figuring out it wasn’t a rip-off or a crank name, she agreed. Her siblings did too. What she didn’t know on the time was that there have been already stays that had been found together with the aircraft’s wreckage by divers within the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark in 2019.
McCollum, a second lieutenant, was a part of a 10-man crew on a B-24J Liberator bomber that was headed towards a bombing mission in Politz, Germany, when the aircraft and one other bomber within the formation collided. The pilot and co-pilot of McCollum’s aircraft managed to bail out and survived, however the remainder of the crew went down with the aircraft.
After the wreckage was found, the Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company (DPAA), the College of Delaware and the Royal Danish Navy recovered human stays and different proof. McCollum’s stays had been positively recognized in December 2024, and Bellou acquired a name from the Military a few week earlier than Christmas.
“I was completely stunned. I can’t tell you how shocking that is to hear. Almost 81 years later, we have a match to your uncle. It was overwhelming really,” she mentioned.
“There are thousands of people out there like that, and those people shouldn’t give up hope,” she mentioned. “I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. With DNA technology always improving, I think they’re going to be discovering a lot more heroes.”
Bellou and her husband even have secured the plot subsequent to her uncle’s for themselves. “After he was pulled out of the ocean, I didn’t want him to be buried by himself,” Sandy Bellou mentioned. “He should be with family.”
OFF TO A RUNNING START: Carl Guardino is all the time on the transfer, zipping across the nation in his function as a vp for Tarana Wi-fi. However he’s all the time prepared to pause to speak in regards to the upcoming Stars & Strides Run, which can mark its fifth birthday when hundreds of runners hit the streets of downtown San Jose on June 28.
“If we hit our goals this year, we will have raised and donated nearly $1.5 million for the Valley Health Foundation in our first five years of the race,” Guardino mentioned. The race, which is sponsored by Tarana Wi-fi and Bloom Power, features a 5K run/stroll, a 10K run and a Youngsters Enjoyable Run for ages 2-7. As soon as once more, the pre- and post-race competition will probably be held on the Guadalupe River Park’s Discovery Meadow.
However you higher transfer quick if you wish to register earlier than costs go up Could 1. Get all the main points at starsandstridesrun.com.
HOUSE HOPPING: The forty first annual Willow Glen Dwelling Tour will showcase 5 attractive houses within the San Jose neighborhood on Could 4 and 5. Jenny Ludwig, chair of the Willow Glen Dwelling Tour, says the trendy casas on the tour have been renovated or completely rebuilt to replicate trendy traits whereas nonetheless reflecting the neighborhood’s well-known attraction.
Tickets — $50 prematurely or $55 the weekend of the occasion — can be found on-line at willowglenhometour.com or at Dana’s Florist on Meridian Avenue and Bella James boutique on Lincoln Avenue.
IN VINO VERITAS: The Italian American Heritage Basis in San Jose will delve into the intertwining historical past of wine and California on Tuesday evening. This system will characteristic Pietro Pinna, a visiting lecturer from the College of Torino, Italy, who wrote a guide on the topic, “La Valle del Vino.” Pinna may have a dialog with Evelyn Ferraro, an assistant professor of Italian Research at Santa Clara College, throughout the 7 p.m. occasion. Tickets are $10 on the door of the IAHF Cultural Heart at 425 N. Fourth Road.
One caveat for anybody into the subject material: The dialogue will probably be in English, however the guide itself is in Italian (however it could be simpler to learn after a few glasses of chianti).
