RUSSELL ? The dog tag of an aviator who died when his B-17 crashed outside Russell 60 year ago has finally been returned to the man’s family.

Second Lt. John Oleksyk, 26, was killed along with 11 other crew members in the Oct. 24, 1944, crash near Walker Army Air Field.

Karl Newacheck, then in eighth grade, lived a couple of blocks away from the wreck site and visited it with friends. They searched the debris for souvenirs, finding a pair of dog tags, three burned watches and some melted coins.

Newacheck took the items home and put them in a cigar box, forgetting about them.

When he moved back to his parents’ home two years ago, he rediscovered the box and began trying to track down relatives of Oleksyk and the other aviator, Cpl. Andrew Snyder.

This summer, Newacheck read a letter to the editor in the Russell Daily News from a Steve Oleksyk, looking for information on an airplane crash in Russell that killed his older brother during World War II.

Newacheck gave the dog tag and other information to Phil Schulz, manager of the Russell Airport, who sent it to Oleksyk.

“For him to hold on to it and have it really surprised me,” said Oleksyk, of Parma, Ohio, adding that he also has received accident reports and other information from Boeing Co. and the military.

Investigators never released a cause of the crash, possibly because of secrecy at the time on anything having to do with the war effort. But observers believe the plane was cruising low and swerved to avoid a three-story school.