ABOVE: A procession carrying Jackson native Thomas Ruth goes through Fairmont on Friday evening on its way to Jackson from the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport. Ruth is finally able to return home nearly 83 years after disappearing while on mission in the Pacific during WWII.

FAIRMONT – Nearly 83 years after going missing during Operation Toenails in the Pacific during WWII, Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas Ruth was brought home to Jackson on Friday.

Ruth enlisted in Minneapolis on Jan. 15, 1941, and worked his way up over the next year and a half, making it to Lieutenant Junior Grade on Oct. 1 1942. He would serve in this role for almost nine months before embarking on what would be his final mission.

The mission, according to the U.S. Navy, was to isolate and capture Munda Airfield at the Southwest Corner of New Georgia Island. After landing on Rendova Island on June 30, 1943, enemy bomber aircraft were reported, and Ruth led his group of pilots to engage them. His teammates lost contact with him, and Ruth did not make it back.

After investigating, the U.S. Navy believed that Ruth had crashed into deep water 600-3,600 feet deep, and his remains were thought to be unrecoverable.

That was until 2013, when a crash site was found by a POW/MIA investigation team. After the decision was made to disinter the remains for laboratory analysis in 2019 upon analyst recommendation, a positive identification was made on April 8, 2025.

Former Fairmont resident Andy Ruth was born nine years after his uncle went missing, but he remembers the story his family had of what happened to him.

“He was a Navy fighter pilot shot down over the Marshall Islands and lost at sea, and never retrieved,” he said. “My grandmother, the day he was shot down, had a nightmare and saw flames shooting down from the sky. They had a stone placed next to their graves at the Riverside Cemetery in Jackson, and they said he was killed over Rendova Island, because they didn’t know. His dad would have died when I was 5 to 6 years old. His mom was alive until 1976. We would go over to see her in Jackson. She never knew what happened.”

DNA samples were requested from Andy Ruth and his brothers, and they came back positive for an ID. After all this time, there were several emotions for Ruth to contend with.

“I didn’t find out until last September or October,” he said. “It was a big surprise. I had no idea he would be found. There was a lot of excitement.”

ABOVE: The patriot guard was part of the procession carrying Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas Ruth through Fairmont to Jackson on Friday evening. 

With his uncle finally home, Ruth shared what it meant for him and his family.

“My uncle was a young 26-year-old pilot, whose life was violently cut short,” he said. “It means that the world now knows what happened. Hopefully, all of the living relatives know now, and they have closure. For my family that weren’t alive to find out, I can only hope that they know.”

For anyone with a missing service member of their own, Ruth shared his thoughts after his experience.

“You should never give up hope, but also know that in the end, all things come out right,” he said.

Thomas Ruth’s burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 27 in Riverside Cemetery with full military honors.

“We welcome anyone who wants to attend the burial ceremony in Jackson,” Ruth said. “There will be a reception afterward at the funeral home. We’ll greet all our great friends from Fairmont.”