ADRIAN — More than 80 years after his airplane was shot down over Germany, a hero of World War II was laid to rest in Oakwood Cemetery next to the son he never knew.
A graveside service with military honors was held on May 19 to remember Staff Sgt. Ralph L. Mourer.
Mourer was a radio operator in the 732nd Bombardment Squadron of the United States Army Air Forces, the predecessor to today’s Air Force. He was on a bombing mission to Brunswick, Germany, when his airplane — a B-24H Liberator named “Little Joe” — was attacked near the town of Salzwedel on April 8, 1944. He and nine others were lost.
He was 23 years old, and his wife, Betty, was expecting their first child.
Over the years, numerous efforts were made to locate the wreckage of the plane. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the location was finally identified with the help of an independent research group, the Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team, which contacted DPAA historians about a possible crash site in 2015. It took many years to identify the site, perform excavations, recover wreckage, and identify remains. Mourer’s remains were eventually confirmed using anthropological, dental, and DNA analysis in June 2024.
Learning of the discovery was bittersweet for Mourer’s family members, in part because neither Betty nor their son, Victor, lived to see it.
JoAnne Maurer of Adrian, who married Victor after meeting him at Adrian College, said he would have been glad to see his father brought home.
“He would have been exceedingly pleased and happy,” she said.
Victor died in 2006, and his wife recalled that when he was close to dying, they sometimes talked about his father. “You’re going to finally talk to your dad,” she told him. “Why don’t you think about some questions you want to ask him?”
Victor and JoAnne Maurer’s daughter, Laura Spolsky, said that while she grew up knowing that her grandfather had been lost over Germany, the story hit her differently after she became a parent herself.
“The feelings on that changed as I got older and started to realize the relationships that parents have with their children and what my dad missed out on,” she said.
Spolsky’s children, Kailyn and Connor, attended the service with her.
Numerous area veterans’ groups were represented at the May 19 memorial, and members of the American Legion Riders provided an escort from Wagley Funeral Home to Oakwood Cemetery. The procession traveled east on Maumee Street, north on McKenzie, and east on Riverside, which made it possible for students from Adrian High School, Adrian Middle School, and Lincoln and Alexander elementary schools to pay tribute to him along the way.
Spolsky, who now lives in Milford, said she was awed by how many veterans attended the service and by the sense of brotherhood that made them want to honor a man they never knew.
“It was just very heartwarming, the fact that we still have so many people that are dedicated to honoring our military and paying their respects,” she said.
