The military announced Wednesday that remains of 17 of the 52 people killed in a plane crash six decades ago have been identified.
In November 1952, Alaska's Colony Glacier basically swallowed the C-124 Globemaster.
The military plane, with 52 people aboard, crashed into Mount Gannett, east of Anchorage, in awful weather.
It was en route from McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage.
A pilot reached the crash site days later, but the wreckage disappeared before search teams could make it.
Two years ago, the glacier melted a bit and small pieces of the plane surfaced miles away.
In 2012, members of a military team recovered what they could.
Remains were flown to Hawaii and matched with relatives' DNA.
Remains of Airman Howard E. Martin, 21, were among those recently identified.
"It was a shock, it really was. I didn't think they'd recover it," said Michael Williams, Martin's brother-in-law.
Williams has researched the plane crash extensively and said it has always been a tough subject for his wife's family.
"Sixty years later we still have some brothers who are emotional about this," Williams said. "You really couldn't bring the subject up without them starting to cry."
The family plans a funeral next month, though there won't be much to bury.
"Basically what's coming back to Indiana is a lock of hair, that's about it," Williams said.
The military said it will continue to monitor the crash site in hopes of recovering more remains.
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