Officials have identified the remains of a German World War II pilot discovered by a teenager in a field in Denmark.
Daniel Rom Kristiansen and his father were researching a local WWII plane crash for the boy’s school assignment when they found the remains of the plane and the pilot.
A German government office announced that the pilot was Hans Wunderlich, 19. He crashed his plane on October 10, 1944. The officials determined his identity from a food ration card with his name and the flight’s log book, both of which were recovered in the wreckage.
Wunderlich was born in Neusorg, Bavaria in 1925.
The cause of the crash has not been determined. At the time, it was noted that the plane crashed in a marchy field and recovery attempts were abandoned because they were ineffective.
Wunderlich was not married and has no surviving relatives. His only sibling was a sister who died in 2006 without any surviving relatives, UPI.com reported.
The remains are currently being held by the Danish authorities. Since there is no surviving family, the German War Graves Commission will be tasked with determining where to bury Wunderlich. A Danish newspaper, the Daily Nordjyske, was the first to publish the pilot’s identity. They said it is likely he will be buried in a Danish war cemetery.