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Post by dmether on Jun 30, 2014 10:00:45 GMT 8
Hardest part is getting IDPF's for these guys, the single best source of information on MIA's. However I may have a source at both JPAC and DPMO so I can order them by the hundreds. Eventually want to get them for every MIA in the Philippines.
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Post by dmether on Jun 30, 2014 9:31:42 GMT 8
The Pantingan Massacre site isn't easy to locate. We went looking for it a few years ago. We had information from someone who located it back in the 1970's, found bones and canteens etc. The report I have from the US National Archives is that a group of American's may have been executed there as well.
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Post by dmether on Jun 21, 2014 22:52:58 GMT 8
Okla, you mentioned about "took a German 88 AA burst in their open bomb-bay just prior to making their final bomb run. Their Aircraft, according to eyewitness accounts in sister B-24s in the formation, was blown all over Northern Germany." Seems familiar to TSgt Arthur K. Miller who was a crewman on board B-24 42-100291 that exploded over Matina airstrip on Mindanao on 1 September, 1944. His plane was witnessed to explode and nobody got out. However, how was his body recovered in a cemetery after the war? The Japs certainly didn't fish bodies out of the water for burial. Eyewitness statements can be inaccurate, and intact bodies were recovered from aircraft blown to hell. Anyway, my thoughts on the subject.
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Post by dmether on Jun 21, 2014 11:37:33 GMT 8
#114 on this list is Lewis Kirkpatrick, he was the commander of Fort Drum: Record states he was cremated, either on the beach at Corregidor or at Bilibid. I find either hard to accept as I've never come across another instance of a POW being cremated by his fellow POW's. And cremating remains is no small task, requires a very high heat, not something that can be done with some sticks on a beach. apps.westpointaog.org/Memorials/Article/7435/"LTC. Kirkpatrick was my uncle and friend. My father was one of his classmates. He died in prison from malnutrition and Pneumonia. He was the senior prisoner on Corregidor. His men carried him down to the beach covered by an American flag. It was covered by a cloth so the Japanese did not detect it. He was cremated and buried on the beach. He now has a marker in Section 11 of Arlington National Cemetery with his wife "Bess" buried next to him. I have been and will always be proud of my uncle. I have recently given talks about Ft Drum and his men's heroism. Col Bob Glasgow Cl 1953. I enjoyed seeing his photo with the Japanese soldiers." I think he died on Corregidor and was buried in a place where the Japanese couldn't find his remains. But that's just my opinion.
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Post by dmether on Jun 13, 2014 7:41:39 GMT 8
The P-61 you mentioned was MACR 13583, went down on Panay in March 45. Pilot died in the crash, but the gunner survived. He had his injuries treated by the Japanese, then he was taken out and used for bayonet practice.
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Post by dmether on Jun 12, 2014 19:48:25 GMT 8
I thought this one was interesting, On 11 Apr 1945 MSgt Oliver Edwards and Maj. Francis Tredget where flying in an L-5 dropping supplies to troops fighting up a mountain on Negros when their plane went down. They were close enough to American troops that they could hear one of them calling for help. Only one body was recovered, Maj. Tredget. And that was only a partial skull. In 1952 the wreckage was found by a local who turned in some long bones, minus a skull. These remains were buried as an unknown in the Punchbowl as X-6012. The person who found the wreckage said they were located under a seat, but two years earlier he had found part of a lower jaw bone about a kilometer away. My thoughts are, the skull and the Unknown remains are the same person, and the other guy survived the crash and was taken by the Japanese and executed. However no idea what happened to the lower jaw that was found.
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Post by dmether on Jun 12, 2014 19:30:21 GMT 8
One more example: This is MACR 14323, a C-47 that crashed on Leyte on 12 March 45 with 6 on-board. The wreck was found by locals in 1989 and the bones in the picture were turned over to the US Embassy. JPAC has never been to the site, however the crew is listed as being recovered and identified.
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Post by dmether on Jun 12, 2014 19:20:03 GMT 8
How Unknowns from the war were identified, or in some cases are still being identified, at times makes no sense. A couple of examples: Richard Stier crashed has P-38 into a swamp on the coast of Mindoro in July 45. The following day some natives found a torso floating 3 miles off shore. The squadron's flight surgeon determined that it belonged to Lt. Stier. To this day the family doesn't believe that he was ever recovered.
MACR 12205, B-25 43-28134, disappeared on 9 Jan 1945. It flew into the highest mountain on the island of Sibuyan. It was located in the 90's and a team from CILHI went to the island (1992) and signed a receipt for items including "assorted bones" brought down from the wreck. The case is considered closed although it's never been visited by JPAC and most of the remains are probably still on the site.
Even up to fairly recently the government can resolve a case without visiting a site or doing DNA testing. Example, John D. Cozza was a US Navy F-6 pilot who did not return from an attack on Luzon on 7 Jan 1945. His aircraft was located in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Northeast Luzon in 1989. Bone fragments found in a shoe, along with a data plate were turned over to the US and he was officially changed from MIA to Recovered.
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Post by dmether on Jun 8, 2014 14:25:51 GMT 8
Okla, you are correct. Was looking over the story of "Lost in Shangri-La" about the C-47 that went down in Dutch New Guinea. All of those who were killed were buried in a common grave back in the States. However, read through some historical AGRS documents, the remains were buried at the crash location and never recovered.
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Post by dmether on Apr 7, 2014 18:34:56 GMT 8
"Diary (Roster of Officers) at Corregidor at the Time of Surrender of Bataan", dated April 9, 1942, by Col. Roscoe Bonham, Origin: Corregidor
I have that one scanned,I can email it if someone wants a copy.
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