TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A World War II pilot will be laid to rest in St. Petersburg 80 years after he was declared missing in action.

U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Gilbert H. Myers, age 27, co-piloted a plane that was shot down near Sicily, Italy on July 10, 1943.

The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native went unaccounted for until Aug. 10, 2023, when he was identified using a combination of DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence.

Witnesses saw a crew member bail out of the B-25 before it crashed, but there was no record of survivors or of soldiers taken as a prisoners of war, according to a release from the U.S. Army.

In 1944, researchers with the American Graves Registration Service found that residents of Sciacca, Italy, recovered human remains and wreckage from the crash site. They were not linked to Myers.

A Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory analyzed additional remains that were discovered among wreckage in 2021 and 2022. They were found to belong to the missing pilot.

Myers’ remains were flown back to the U.S. He will be laid to rest in St. Petersburg on Nov. 10.

Myers’ name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, along with other WWII service members who are still missing. An Army spokesperson said a rosette will be placed next to his name, indicating that he has been accounted for.