City of Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI (News Release) – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced this Tuesday that the Army Air Forces Sgt. Herald R. Boyd, 25, of Granger, Texas, killed during World War II, was accounted for on July 8, 2022.

Southwest Airlines is expected to deliver Boyd’s remains to Corpus Christi International Airport (CCIA) on Friday, September 9, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. He will be honored at CCIA with a water salute. Boyd will be buried on Tuesday, September 12, in Corpus Christi.

“In February 1945, Boyd was assigned to 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force in the European Theater. On February 3, the B-17G Flying Fortress bomber on which he was serving as a gunner was a part of a large mission to bomb the Tempelhof marshaling yard in Berlin. Boyd’s bomber was one of the 21 B-17s lost during the mission.” -Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

It was believed that Boyd’s remains were associated with a set of remains designated as Unknown X-4804 Neuville, but this could not be proven. X-4804 was buried at Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission Cemetery in Belgium, in 1957.

DPAA historians are conducting ongoing, comprehensive research focused on air losses over Germany, and as a result, they successfully identified X-4804 as Boyd utilizing their DPAA laboratory.

For additional information on Boyd’s background and journey home, please visit https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3091197/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-boyd-h/.