Pacific War Missing

[Peter H]

www.defence.gov.au/health/infocentre/jo ... _47-53.pdf

Many aircraft were lost over Papua New Guinea. It is estimated that there are still over 500 aircraft with full crews missing in Papua New Guinea (about 300 American, 150 Japanese and 50 Australian), which means that there are more WWII aircraft missing in Papua New Guinea than in any other country on earth.

[Peter H]

"Tragic tale of two loves lost at war"

http://maitland.yourguide.com.au/news/l ... 38777.aspx

[Penn44]

"Tragic tale of two loves lost at war"

http://maitland.yourguide.com.au/news/l ... 38777.aspx

Seems like airmen needed to stay from Pearl. She was bad luck. Three more ill-fated relationships with airmen, and she would have been an Japanese ace.

Penn44

.

[Peter H]

I somehow find this difficult to believe:

"WWII pilot's skeleton found hanging in Kokoda Track tree"

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/ ... 62,00.html

THE skeleton of a World War II pilot is thought to have been discovered hanging in a tree on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

A group of hikers lead by Melbourne man David Collins, of No Roads Expeditions, made the astonishing find on Thursday last week.

"We had just left Templeton’s Crossing and had walked up over the top of Mt Bellamy and were coming back down to the next camp ground when some of the hikers stopped to take photos of the natural canopy above the trail.

"One of them zoomed in on what appeared to be a body. He had zoomed in on it and when the wind blew you could see what looked like a body, and it appeared to be hanging by a cable.’’

Mr Collins said the body was covered in moss and almost impossible to distinguish initially.

"I couldn’t make it out at first. It was quite high up, about 12 to 15 metres. Then the wind blew again and I saw it move.

"It appears to be sitting in an aluminium harness and hanging from a cable, which leads us to believe it could be an airman.’’

Mr Collins, who was walking the historic track for the seventh time when the discovery was made, said it could be a significant find.

"If it is a body, then it’s a very significant find. There will be a family somewhere who had a family member missing in action who might be able to put that person to rest.’’

"There were a lot of missing soldiers in that area. You know you are walking past the graves of many people.’’

Authorities are now investigating.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/kokod ... tml?page=2

Mr Collins said he believed a B25 had crashed during the war about 500m from where the possible remains were found.

"Aircraft crashed all over the area, it is near Lake Myola that was a staging ground for the Allies and also where the biscuit bombers dropped their supplies," he said.

"A lot of planes went into the ground."

He said if the find did turn out to be a skeleton it could also possibly the body of a Japanese serviceman.

[Larso]

The picture on the ABC site seems pretty clear in showing the feet dangling above, so someone's up there. But given the effect of the tropics on material I'm somewhat surprised that the ropes/threads whatever have lasted all this time. For some reason I'm reminded of that episode of 'Lost' where some of the characters found a corpse in exactly the same situation.

[Michael Emrys]

But given the effect of the tropics on material I'm somewhat surprised that the ropes/threads whatever have lasted all this time.

Not only that, but I wonder that in the ensuing 65 years the natural growth of the trees and other vegetation would not have changed their relationships. I wouldn't expect a tree in the tropics to just sit there unchanged for that length of time.

Michael

[Peter H]

From April 2008:

"Remains of 11 World War II airmen missing for years identified"

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_worl ... sin-2.html

"World War II soldier who went missing almost 65 years ago finally gets burial"

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/commu ... _went.html


Even in peacetime flying conditions in PNG are described as "rigorous".Bad weather,clouds,terrain,getting lost,were and are still a hazard.One of the most "dangerous" places in the world to fly over in WW2.

[Peter H]

From the AWM

Portrait of Squadron Leader H. G. Pockley DFC and Bar of Randwick, NSW, who was renowned for his submarine hunting exploits as skipper of a Sunderland aircraft over the Atlantic. When photographed he served with No. 41 (Transport Sea) Squadron RAAF, flying Martin Mariner flying boat aircraft between Australian and Dutch New Guinea bases. He was missing presumed killed in the Borneo area in March 1945, while commanding 200 Flight RAAF (Liberators).

[Peter H]

Studio portrait of 411867 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) James Henry Cox of Sydney, NSW. Enlisting in the RAAF in June 1941, Flt Lt Cox was an Air Gunner who flew reconnaissance missions in Catalina aircraft with 43 Squadron in the Pacific campaign. He went missing, presumed killed, when his aircraft failed to return from a mining operation over Manila Bay in the Philippines on 14 December 1944.

[Peter H]

The Guadalcanal Goettge Patrol still remain missing:

http://www.military.com/news/article/te ... stery.html

Three men, including Few, escaped, but rescue parties in the next days found little trace of the rest of the patrol, and no bodies. Sixty-six years later, the 22 men who were lost remain listed as missing in action....Historians believe that the Japanese buried the Americans in trenches, along with some of their own dead, according to Radford University. Attempts over the past 20 years failed to locate the patrol's remains .

[Larso]

Regarding the above post. The ABC reports things were not as they seemed -


The Defence Force says reports of a body, believed to be an airman from World War II on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea are mistaken.

A group of Australian trekkers thought they had found a moss-covered body hanging in a harness from the jungle canopy last month.

Australian Defence Force (ADF) workers in Port Moresby today inspected the isolated site, which is below a flight path commonly used during the War.

But the ADF says it appears that a moss-covered branch had broken off a tree and could have been confused with the body of an airman.

[Peter H]

Thanks for that update mate.

I'll post something in the topic that Marcus raised as well.

Peter

[Peter H]

Remains of 3 sailors from Pearl Harbor identified

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3B4 ... QD930F36O0

The attack on the Oklahoma left 429 sailors and Marines dead. Following the attack, 36 of these servicemen were identified and the remaining 393 were buried as unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

[Peter H]

George W Lee,US 112th Cavalry Regiment

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/gwlee.htm

Interesting that Edward Drea relates that rumours soon spread among the 112th that the 7 missing or so from the Arawe landings had been taken prisoner by the Japanese and executed("captured 112th troopers[used]for bayonet practice on New Britain").

In subsequent operations some members of the 112th "were reluctant to take prisoners".

Refer Defending the Driniumor,E.J.Drea.

[Peter H]

Remains found of "the first Navy officer to be lost in defense of the Philippine Islands"

http://www.startribune.com/local/353176 ... c:_Yyc:aUU