Descendants of Heroic WWII Flight Crew Surprised with Reunion After 80 Years

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of WW II on September 2, Ancestry.com used its historical records and online family trees to uncover the remarkable story of a heroic B-17 crew.

Their modern-day descendants came together for the first time—like one final mission 80 years in the making.

“80% of Americans say they know very little about their personal connections to WWII,” said Ancestry Story Producer, Lisa Elzey. “I wanted to know more about my grandfather’s service, so I dove into the records to see what I might discover.”

Lisa came across an article that said her grandfather, Harold E. Lounsbury, Jr., was the ball turret gunner on a B-17 bomber that shot down three Nazi planes and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

She continued to dive into historical documents