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The remains of the first American pilot shot down in the Persian Gulf War have been found in Iraq’s Anbar province, the Navy said in a statement on Sunday. Navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher’s plane was shot down on the first day of combat on January 17, 1991, and he was the only American ever missing in action during the war. But after his plane crashed, many believed Speicher was still alive—one rumor even said his name had even been scratched into a jail cell. Iraqis remembered that Bedouins buried his remains in the desert, and lead U.S. Marines to the site. The remains were flown to Dover Air Force base for examination, where it was determined that Speicher’s dental records matched the jawbone recovered at the site. Said Admiral Gary Roughead in a statement: “Our Navy will never give up looking for a shipmate, regardless of how long or how difficult that search may be,” adding that “I am also extremely grateful to all those who have worked so tirelessly over the last 18 years to bring Captain Speicher home.”