The remains of Captain Michael Scott Speicher, who was a US navy pilot and the first American combat casualty in the Gulf War when his jet was shot down back in 1991, were finally found in Iraq after eighteen years.

The mystery is solved with a positive identification of the remains, buried in the desert and located after officials received new information from an Iraqi citizen about a crash.

It now appears that Captain Speicher was buried by nomadic Bedouin tribesmen close to where his F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet was shot down during a combat mission on January 17, 1991, the first night of Operation Desert Storm. His plane crashed in a remote, uninhabited wasteland. It is believed he was shot down by a missile fired from an Iraqi aircraft, probably a MiG-25.

Family spokeswoman Cindy Laquidara said relatives learned on Saturday that Speicher’s remains had been found. “The family’s proud of the way the Defense Department continued on with our request” to not abandon the search, she said. “We will be bringing him home.”

The 33 year-old Captain left a wife, Joanne Speicher, and two children. Captain Speicher was initially declared dead but the lack of remains, and claims by some Iraqis over the years to have seen him in captivity, led officials to change his status to “missing in action” and later “missing-captured”. R.I.P Michael Scott Speicher!!