Army Air Corps First Lieutenant George “Bud” Reuter, 80 years after giving his life in World War II, was officially laid to rest Saturday afternoon.
“To actually find remains is just very surreal,” Lt. Reuter’s nephew Dan Reuter said. “We appreciate the military for taking the time to do that.”
And it did take time. Lieutenant Reuter was in a B-24 liberator on Aug. 1, 1943, north of Bucharest, Romania on a mission to bomb oil refineries known as “Operation Tidal Wave.” The plane took on enemy fire and fought valiantly to the end, but the plane went down, and everybody on board was killed.
Lieutenant Reuter’s remains were buried overseas. Six years ago, the “Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency” started exhuming remains of those believed to have been part of “Operation Tidal Wave”, and on Jan. 10 of this year, Bud Reuter was accounted for. His remains have been brought to Sunset Memorial Park in North Olmsted.
“He was such a hero, and that’s how his family viewed him. They didn’t view him as a casualty of war. They viewed him as an American Hero,” Kaitlyn Hathaway from Sunset Memorial Park told us.
He earned a Silver Star, a Purple Heart, an Air Medal, a Distinguished Flying Cross, and more than anything, earned a final resting place stateside. Dan Reuter said, “I’m hoping every family could experience what we just experienced. This is wonderful.”
On July 29, Lt. Reuter will be laid to rest with full military honors at Sunset Memorial Park in North Olmsted.
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