( CNN ) -- The U.S. military has identified frozen remains found atop a California glacier as those of a World War II era airman who vanished more than half a century ago . Peter Stekel and a friend found the remains of a World War II airman atop a glacier in California . Ernest G. Munn had been missing since his training flight disappeared over the Sierra Nevada mountain range on November 18 , 1942 , the U.S. military said Monday . He was 23 at the time . Last year , two hikers found the frozen remains of a man with blond , wavy hair in a remote area of Kings Canyon , east of Fresno , California . A tattered sweater still clung to the body , and an unopened parachute lay nearby , said Peter Stekel , one of the hikers who made the discovery . DNA analysis confirmed that the remains were Munn 's , the Department of Defense said Monday . The military has notified his family in St. Clairsville , Ohio . `` You do n't often have an opportunity in life to provide people with the answers to questions that they have always wanted to know the answer to , '' Stekel told CNN Tuesday . `` Having the ability to supply that information just makes me really happy . '' Munn was one of three cadets who , along with their lieutenant , took off from Mather Field in California on a routine training flight nearly 66 years ago . The AT-7 Navigator aircraft carried about five hours of fuel but never returned to base , the U.S. Department of Defense said . Authorities searched for the men for a month -- without success . Five years later , in 1947 , hikers on Darwin Glacier in the Sierra Nevada mountain range discovered plane wreckage but found no bodies . Then , in October 2005 , backpackers discovered frozen human remains of a crew member , later identified as Leo M. Mustonen . Two years later , in 2007 , Stekel and a friend were in the area researching a book that Stekel is writing about the ill-fated flight . About 100 feet from where Mustonen 's body was found , Stekel discovered the remains of a second man emerging from a melting glacier . At first he thought it was a tree , Stekel said . `` And as I got closer and closer , I noticed what turned out to be a gold ring on his left ring finger , '' he said . DNA retrieved from Munn 's family matched samples from the remains . With two of the missing airmen now identified , authorities continue their search for the others . Munn was the oldest of four children . He did well in school and watched over his three little sisters , his family told CNN in 2005 . `` He was my idol , '' one of his sisters told CNN . `` He was tall and good-looking . And when he walked in , they said , 'Here comes the blond bomber . ' And I would say , 'That 's my brother . ' '' At 23 , he enlisted in the Army , kissed his sisters goodbye and told his mother never to cut her long hair . Authorities have notified his sisters , now in their 80s , about the match . Munn is expected to be buried in May in Colerain , Ohio . His mother lived to be 102 , never cut her hair and died awaiting word on his fate . E-mail to a friend .
U.S. military identified frozen remains as those of a World War II airman . Ernest William Munn had been missing since his training flight days in 1942 . They found the body in a Californian desert last year . The body had long wavy hair and an unopened parachute lay nearby .