An international ceremony took place in Canonsburg when a World War II pilot that was shot down over Japan just before the bombing of Hiroshima had a piece of his B-24 bomber returned to his family. For decades, First Lt. Joseph E. Dubinsky was thought to have been killed when his plane, The Taloa, was shot down on July 28, 1945. According to Japanese Historian, Shigeaki Mori, he in fact survived the crash and was taken to Hiroshima as a prisoner of war. Nine days later, on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Dubinsky was killed. Through Mori’s efforts, Dubinsky’s nephew Bob Tatalovich was contacted and a family that held on to a piece of Dubinsky’s plane presented him with the memento. On August 6, 2026, on the 81st anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, the family placed the airplane piece in a time capsule and buried it next to Dubinsky. Tatalovich, along with his many family members honored Dubinsky with a new religious burial ceremony, a military flyover, a 21 gun salute and the playing of Taps at his final resting place, St. Michael’s Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Canonsburg. Family members swelled with emotion and pride as they honored their late cousin and uncle. Tatalovich and the rest of Dubinsky’s family were proud to be a part of the transformation of one time war enemies into friends. The event was important in Japan also. Japanese media representatives were on hand to cover the event.