World War II veteran given hero's welcome at DFW Airport nearly 80 years after his death
DFW AIRPORT (CBSNewsTexas.com) — A remarkable scene unfolded at DFW Airport Friday as a nearly 80-year wait ended for the family of an Erath County man who was killed in action during World War II.
Noel Shoup was a pilot shot down over France in 1944 and his remains were unidentified for decades.
But a discovery at the crash site helped lead to the emotional return home for the North Texas hero.
Shoup graduated from Dublin High School in 1936 and, like a lot of his peers at the time, got an engraved class ring.
The veteran's nieces describe an uncle they never met, but have since learned a lot about.
"He was really well-regarded by his friends and family," said Sandra Hammons.
Shoup is said to have left college during the war and became an Army Air Corp pilot, rising to the rank of first lieutenant just before his plane was shot down while on a bombing mission.
"He and his copilot were the only ones they couldn't identify that were killed in the crash," Hammons said.
The news soon reached the town of Dublin, but Shoup's mother always believed he was still alive. "When we were growing up...she would go, 'Well maybe he's wandering around Europe with amnesia and he will someday come home.'"
In 2018, investigators found and searched the crash site in a remote area of France and discovered human remains.
"We never thought this was going to happen," said his niece Brenda Baumert.
The search also turned up a 1936 Dublin High School class ring with the initials N.E.S. "It told us that they had found him."
Seventy-nine years after he was killed in action, Shoup was finally brought home and met with a special ceremony on the tarmac.
A military guard saluted the flag-draped casket before it was escorted in a procession to Dublin, where Shoup will be buried with his family on Monday, which will also mark what would have been his 105th birthday.
"It'll be closure on a long family story...no more wondering or no more guessing what happened," Hammons said. "It puts him back with the family."
