Leo Mustonen
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Leo Mustonen was a Finnish-American World War II Army Air Corps cadet who was reported missing after a plane crash on November 18, 1942 until his frozen remains were found in October 2005 at the bottom of a glacier in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, 63 years later. He was 22 at the time of his death.
Mustonen joined the Army during his senior high school year in Brainerd, Minnesota and was in training to become a navigator when he was reported missing. His family have made arrangements to bury his remains alongside those of his parents in Brainerd.
Four cadets were aboard the training flight that crashed east of Fresno, California, and until Mustonen's body was found, only some wreckage was recovered, in 1947. Pilot Lt. Bill Gamber and navigator trainees Glenn Munn and Melvin Mortensen are still missing, and the National Park Service may search for their remains in the spring.
Mustonen's identity was revealed February 4, 2006 after forensic testing used hair and teeth as well as some of Mustonen's equipment to date the body, as his nameplate had corroded and could not be used. The autopsy on Mustonen showed that his injuries were so severe that he would have died instantly upon impact.
His body was laid to rest in his hometown on March 24, 2006.
