WASHINGTON -- The site where an American fighter plane crashed decades ago during World War II has solved the mystery of 10 missing servicemen, including two from Texas, the Defense Department said Monday.

The men were aboard a B-24 Liberator plane that disappeared April 16, 1944, while returning from New Guinea following a bombing run. It wasn’t until 2001 that U.S. officials were notified that wreckage of the plane was found in the Morobe Province.

Among the remains identified were Second Lt. Raymond A. Colley, of Leary, and Second Lt. Dudley R. Ives, of Ingleside.

The remains were to be returned to families for burial, according to the Defense Department’s Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office.

Ives’ remains were buried in February among relatives and with full military honors in Aransas Pass on the Texas Gulf Coast.