WWRM - World War II Families for the Return of the Missing

WWRM MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

APRIL 2008

It is with deep sadness that we report the remains of Army Sgt. Keith "Matt" Maupin have been recovered and identified. WWRM extends its deepest sympathy to the Maupin family during this difficult time.

Identifications from WWII Identified since January, 2008:

Aviation Cadet Ernest G. Munn, US Army, St. Clairsville, Ohio. He will be buried in May in Cole Rain, OH.

2nd LT Arthur F. Eastman, 5th Service Squadron, 27th Air Depot Group ,US Army, of East Orange, NJ. He will be buried in September in Arlington National Cemetery

2nd LT. John F. Lubben, 644th Bomber Squadron, 410th Bomber Group, Light, US Army

of Wisconsin Rapids, WI, He will be buried April 18 in Arlington National Cemetery

Sgt. Albert A. Forgue, 644th Bomber Squadron, 410th Bomber Group, Light, US Army

of North Providence, RI. He will be buried April 18 in Arlington National cemetery

Sgt Charles L. Spiegel, 644th Bomber Squadron, 410th Bomber Group, Light, US Army

of Chicago, IL. He will all be buried April 18 in Arlington National Cemetery.

Upcoming DPMO Family Update Meetings:

April 19, 2008 - Hartford, CT - being held at Hartford Marriott Rocky Hill 100 Capital Boulevard, Rocky Hill, Connecticut 06067.

I will be the point of contact for this update meeting, you may write to me at lphillips5@fairpoint.net or call me at 207-939-2051

May 17, 2008 - Tulsa, OK - Hilton Tulsa Southern Hills7900 South Lewis Avenue

Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, 74136

Point of Contact for this update meeting will be sent out separately - if you are able to be a point of contact for the families for this meeting please let me know

If you plan on attending either of these meetings please contact me at lphillips5@fairpoint.net

"They fought as brothers-in-arms. They died together and now they sleep side by side. To them we owe a solemn obligation". -Adm. Chester W. Nimitz

Resolutions being found, our Case Updates:

India: "World War II Families for the Return of the Missing (WWRM)

wholeheartedly welcomes the March 19 announcement by Rear Admiral Donna L. Crisp, the Commander of JPAC, that JPAC will conduct on-site surveys of World War II crash

sites in India beginning this year. A full-scale recovery operation is also expected to be completed before the end of the year, according to Rear Admiral Crisp. This significant announcement came at the conclusion of a meeting in New Delhi between Rear Admiral Crisp and Indian Defence Secretary Vijay Singh. WWRM is especially pleased with this announcement and we look forward to the continued efforts between the Indian Government and JPAC. WWRM would also like to express our deepest gratitude to the Indian Government and JPAC for this joint humanitarian mission."

From the European Team: Efforts continue on several cases in Europe. Recently the team has begun work to find the crash site of Major Wilton Joel. Joel was the Commanding officer of the 38th Fighter Squadron of the 55th Fighter Group when he was shot down by German airplanes 29 November, 1943 on the Dutch-German border. One European Team member will be traveling to Luxembourg in May of this year to seek local information on a missing infantry private MIA since February 1945 during a crossing of the Sauer River. One of our most important initiatives is to gain access to the "X-Files" that contain information on the buried unknowns in American Cemeteries in Europe. We believe that access to these file would enable us to make significant progress in the documentary research needed to identify several WWII MIA's.

Netherlands: WWRM was contacted by an Oceanographer that has reported a B-24 off the coast of Domburg Zeeland. He has asked for our assistance on this crash site We are in negotiations with a dive team for assistance on this. According to records on this aircraft there are still two sets of remains not recovered for this site, the bombardier and the pilot.

YAP Islands: Pat & Cherie Ranfranz and their Missing Air Crew Project will be returning to Yap Island from October 3-19, 2008 to continue their search for Pat's uncle, T/Sgt John R. McCullough and the other nine members of the Coleman crew from the 307th Bomb group. In addition, the Missing Air Crew Project is searching for all the American men planes lost near Yap during WWII. They will be returning to Yap Island from October 3-19, 2008 to continue their search for Pat's uncle's B-24 crew (the Coleman Crew, http://www.missingaircrew.com/crew.asp) as well as the other missing AAF, Navy and Marine men and planes we have researched (http://www.missingaircrew.com/yap/yapmissions.asp) as being lost near Yap during WWII. Pat & Cherie Ranfranz are committed to locating and documenting the crash site of the Coleman B-24 and other American planes on or near Yap Island. The original goal of locating the Coleman B-24 has been expanded to locating and documenting all the American crash sites on or near Yap Island. The Missing Air Crew Project is committed to documenting the history of the men and their missions through documents, pictures, and oral history before the information is lost in time. The most important goal of the project is to help provide closure to the families of the missing men who lost their lives in service of their country during WWII. Over 100 men remain listed as missing in action near Yap Island.

Moving Ahead - our progress report:

H Res 111 (Establishing a Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs): WWRM is continuing to push for the passing of H Res 111 that was introduced by Rep. Peter King (NY). This bill is stuck in the rules committee with 267 co-sponsors. Please contact your Congressional Leader and ask why this is stuck in the rules committee with 267 co-sponsors. WWRM has been invited to DC to speak on H Res. 111. In the next issue of our newsletter I will report the outcome of that meeting.

Underwater Cases: I will be traveling to DC once again and asking about earmarked monies for the recovery of underwater crash sites. There are still 450 underwater cases and if the DPMO strategy plan is followed it will take 450 years to recover these sites. The plan calls for one underwater case a year right now. I will be meeting with Congressional leaders to see how we can best approach this. WWRM has four underwater cases if funded could be recovered.

WWRM is also negotiating with an Oceanograher and a dive team in the European Theatre to come up with a plan on Underwater cases.

DPMO's Strategy Plan: WWRM will be discussing and recommending action items to DPMO on their strategy plan. There are several areas that need improvement, some of these items include but are not limited to: declassification of WWII records, opening of the X-Files (buried as unknowns), and more researchers for WWII.

Education on POW/MIA Issues: Knowledge is power so they say. One task that WWRM has is to make the public aware of the WWII MIA issue. We are slowly doing this through publications in newsletters of other organizations, newspaper articles and we are working on a Documentary. WWRM believes by educating the public and Congress of the issue that WWII Families face we will have more leverage to make a difference. There have been several press releases as of late and we will be adding a media section to our website.

Notes from the Webmaster:

Here are the updates that have been uploaded to the website in the last month, please continue to check our website as new items are being added weekly:

" New links were added to the In The Media section

" Link added for May Family Update meeting in Tulsa

" WWRM address added to Contact section for donations or US mail

" Pictures of Our MIAs has been updated and a slide show added

" Glossary has many new definitions

If you would like to add anything or have suggestions for the website please contact our webmaster (Gina Zaetz) or myself at wwiimissing@gmail.com

Notes from the President.

I am pleased with the progress that WWRM is making in several aspects of the WWII Efforts - it is through unity that we will make this program work and find resolution. We have been incorporated just shy of two years and in that two years we have covered a lot of ground and we have more ground to cover. At times the progress seems slow especially for the waiting family looking for an answer - there are many items that WWRM is working behind the scenes and we will continue to work these items to find resolution for our "Greatest Generation Left Behind". We have the ability as a group to make a very large difference to the families and the men we have left behind. It is for the families that this corporation was formed and will continue to make progress. I would like to announce the following new programs coming up in the next few months that we will be rolling out:

mtDNA: WWRM is teaming up with the SCO (Service Casualty Offices) and JPAC to obtain mtDNA samples for the MIA database. We will be discussing this with AFDIL,JPAC and SCO at the CT update meeting to see how we can best assist in building the database. Watch for our roll out plan coming soon.

Bent Prop Project: I have been talking with the Bent Star project. They work specifically on Republic of Palau cases. If anyone has or knows of any missing service member from WWII that was lost over Palau please contact me. Also if you get the chance please view their documentary "Last Flight Home", the website for that is: http://www.lastflighthome.org/. I will have this documentary with me in CT and will show a viewing of it. It is a very touching documentary on the cases they are working on Palau. Bent Prop's website is: http://www.bentprop.org.

Media: We have teamed up with SkyControl and are now an Editorial Partner with them We will be writing updates on WWII MIA , sending press releases and including some searches for them to publish. Their website is: http://www.skycontrol.net. Please check out their site and view our newest press release.

Where WWRM needs your help:

Researchers for the Archives: If anyone can possibly help in getting documents from the archives once a month for the families it would be appreciated. This can be shared by several individuals. Please contact me if you are able to help with this and we can discuss details.

Fundraising: We need assistance in raising funds, if anyone in the group has ideas on fundraising or if you know how to write grants that would be a tremendous help. Donations are always welcome and perhaps someone could set up a donation campaign. We have several projects that we would like to work on if the funding was available. Please contact me with any ideas on this. We do not charge membership fees and it is through donations and fundraising that we can accomplish so much more.

MEMBERS CORNER

(IN THEIR MEMORY)

It is in the memory of the missing service member for which WWRM was formed and the reason that we need to bring these men home to their final resting place. This month we are featuring two articles: The first one is on Robert M. King written by his spouse (Liz Commins), 1st LT. Robert M. King is MIA from WWII in India. The second article is written by Pat Ranfranz in regards to his individual search on YAP Island that expanded from looking just for his uncle to include all MIA cases on YAP. I hope you enjoy both articles.

The Robert M. King Story

Robert Marshall King and I met at a drugstore. My girlfriend and I stopped at the drugstore as it was the only place open at the time. We wanted to stop in for a soda. It was at that moment I was to meet a man I would fall in love with at first sight. I did not think this was possible but it was and I met the man of my dreams.

Robert had such a beautiful smile, he was so tall and handsome. He was there with another Cadet. My friend wanted him, but he just took my arm and that was that. We had so much fun together and we were so in love. Robert was such a fantastic person - everyone loved him. He did not drink or smoke, but he fit in everywhere. My Robert was such a handsome man and just happy all of the time.

From La Junta, CO where we met we traveled across the Country. From LaJunta we traveled to Tucson, AZ and Topeka, KS. We had so much fun traveling and being together. Then the news came that Robert would be deployed to serve in the CBI (China, Burma, India) Theatre. He assumed that it was a job that needed to be done and he proudly served and went to the CBI.

While Robert was in the CBI serving our Country I gave birth to a son named Robert Martin King. Robert did not have the opportunity to see and hold our son. The only thing Robert was able to do was to see a picture of Robert Martin at 9 months old. Robert and I were only together a very short time before being deployed. In that short time we had a love and life that would last us forever, these were the best years of my life. Even today the loss of Robert gets to me emotionally.

On May 5, 1944 Robert was on a mission to bomb the docks and shipping yards at Saigon . This was a night attack and nine of the aircraft bombed their targets, but five could not find it in the smoke and darkness and elected to bomb Haiphong and the airdrome at Cat Bai. Robert's aircraft the "Flub Dub was shot down with one engine shot out, bailed out safely; three men of the 10-man crew suffered minor injuries. Robert and his fellow crewmembers survived that and walked back to the base. He sent me a letter telling me if I received anything from the War Department to not believe it because he had survived the bail out. It was May 25,1944 when Robert went on a ferrying mission over Chabua, India. That would be Robert's last mission. When the war Department informed me that he was MIA I did not believe it - I showed them the letter that Robert wrote and that Robert was alive. They informed me that this was not the case and that they were positive that he had crashed and not survived. I was completely devastated. An herb gatherer got to the site and saw 3 bodies outside the plane, he brought back 3 ID bracelets and 5 guns, however the U.S.Gov't couldn't get to the site, so they said. He was declared dead May25,1944 and the Gov't has done nothing since except to say they could not retrieve the bodies. These ID bracelets were identified as Robert's crew members. I did not know the names of these men until recently, I had often wondered if one of the ID bracelets could have been Roberts, but now I know who they belonged to.

Over the years it has been very emotional for me. I did not know for the longest time that I had any recourse. For so many years I thought nothing could be done until my son Jeff looked on the internet and found some info that got me started looking further, and finally led me to WWRM. The most help that I have ever received has been from Lisa Phillips and her group, which has given me hope. I believe there are many in the same situation and don't know what to do. I just assumed that what the Gov't told me was all that could be done, I now know that not to be the case. I'm 85 and have had no closure in all these years. I really would like his remains returned before I die. We owe this to Robert and all of the men who are still missing from WWII.

A Search for a Missing Uncle

I started my search for my uncle, T/Sgt John R. McCullough, and his fellow Coleman crew members in 1988 while finishing my History degree at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. While growing up I heard stories about my uncle who was shot down and never recovered during WWII. My uncle, John, was one of 13 children from a 1400-acre Watertown, South Dakota farm family. In 1942, shortly after Pearl Harbor, the family moved to Covina, California to help with the industrial war effort. My mother was 5 years old at the time of the move. Throughout the years our family had only limited information about the shoot down off Yap until I started my research in the late 80's. I've always had a strong interest in history and aviation therefore, the story of my lost uncle stayed with me. Whenever I was near a globe I would spin it around to view Yap in Micronesia. The tiny island of Yap is often found on globes due to their fame with stone money. I can recall pointing to Yap in grade school on a globe and trying to explain that I had an uncle who was shot down over the island.

After developing and launching my Missing Air Crew Project web site, www.MissingAirCrew.com, in 2004 I was able to locate a number of relatives of the other crew members through the internet. The first contact was from Martin B. Unger's (Navigator http://www.missingaircrew.com/crew/unger/) sister, Cecile. She received her first computer and was entering family names into a search engine with her niece. They entered Martin's name and were shocked to see my web site come up with a picture of Martin on the splash page. Cecile said her hair stood up as she stared at the computer and Martin's picture. On April 4, 2005 I met Cecile in New York City for the first time and spent 4 wonderful hours sharing information and talking about the families and the crew. Since this first meeting I have returned to New York City additional times to meet with Cecile, her sister, and the Pearl (Martin's widow). In addition, to Martin's family I have been contacted by other crew families. All the families share the same desire for more information and closure.

2005 and 2006 Search Trips to Yap Island

We spent an exhausting 4 week on Yap Island (October 2005 and September 2006) searching for my uncle's missing B-24. Although we did not find my uncle's plane (the Coleman crew) on the first two trips, we came home feeling like we accomplished a lot during the trips. While on Yap we were going non-stop interviewing Yapese elders, hacking through jungles, crawling through mangrove swamps, and diving the waters around the Yap reef searching for the missing men and planes. We were very surprised to locate the wreckage of numerous American planes including three Hellcats, two F4U Corsairs and one TBM Avenger. Upon finding the other American crash site on our first trip we immediately decided to expand our mission to document all American crash sites on and near the island, http://www.missingaircrew.com/yap/yapmissions.asp. More information and pictures about the 2005 and 2006 search trips can be viewed at http://www.missingaircrew.com/trip/.

Not finding my uncle's plane on the two trips was by no means disappointing since we have provided closure to the families of other missing air crews. For example, we were joined by two other families who lost men over Yap during our September 2006 search trip. Over the last few years we have held a number of very emotion memorial services for the missing crews.

On October 26, 2005 we held a memorial service for the Coleman crew on the bow of a ship called the Mnuw in the Yap Island harbor. We gathered with several new friends, our land and dive guides and Yapese chiefs (Andrew Ruepong, Paramount Chief of Yap and Chief of Rul, Bruno Tharngan, Chairman of the Council of Pilung and Chief of Ma'ap and Martin Yinug, FSM Supreme Court Justice) to pay our respect to the Coleman crew.

On September 20, 2006 Sharon Crowley Connor held a memorial for her father. Sharon Crowley Connor and her cousin Kathy Beazley spent eight days on Yap Island to remember SGT William Edward Crowley, http://www.awon.org/awcrow.html. He was a gunner on a 307th Bomb Group B-24 during a bombing run over Yap, KIA 15 July 1944, http://www.missingaircrew.com/yap/mac/15july1944.asp, when his aircraft collided with another. Sharon wrote the following after her father's memorial service:

Last evening, to coincide with sunset, our boat set out into the open sea so I could go to my father. Not sure whether I was saying goodbye or hello. It was my birthday, and the folks here at the Manta Ray Bay Hotel gave me a lei to wear in my hair. They gave us two woven baskets of flowers. A Yapese woman whom we had only briefly met the night before brought another lei which Kathy wore. (The women reading this may understand how pretty we felt with flowers in our hair.) As the boat left the channel, I was overcome with a sense of rushing out to meet my handsome father, and I was going to be there soon. With Kathy and me were the hotel owner, his wife and daughter, a special staff member Peter, Mike the photographer, Pat and Cherie and the Anthony family. When the approximate location was reached, we stopped and steadied ourselves against the rolling boat in preparation for our little ceremony. I'd never done anything like this, so I just let my heart lead me. When I had my letter in hand, I pushed the CD player button that let Jo Stafford begin singing "I'll Be Seeing You" and read my letter to my father. I choked when I said his name, as I do every time. I nearly lost my voice again when I read that I was born September 20, for today WAS September 20. I was not the only one trying to keep my composure. I ended my words to my father, but it didn't feel like goodbye. I told him I'd be seeing him, and by that time, Jo was singing "Fly the ocean in a silver plane…" Kathy read all the names of the twenty-two crewmen who never returned to those who loved them. She put that list and photos of my father's brothers and sister into one of the baskets. I put my letter and tribute I'd written to him on our AWON website into the other basket of flowers. As gently as could be, they bobbed along until they were out of sight. Flowers fell from the baskets a little at a time along the way. It still did not feel like goodbye. Returning to the dock, even as salty sea spray prickled my skin, I felt peaceful. My father had fallen into the sea 62 long years ago and now his presence was being recognized. He was there, and he knew we were with him. I was happy. He knew I'd come a very long way to see him as soon as I'd learned where he was. We were all directed to the Mnuw, the hotel's ship/restaurant/bar, where the hotel had prepared for us a celebratory dinner of mangrove crab and taro with coconut sauce, and even a surprise birthday cake. Balloons with cute little Asian comic figures bounced from all the poles (what are those poles called?), while we heard the oft-played loop of musical offerings, including "I Feel Good" (JB) and "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" (AF).

Could I have asked for more? I FEEL GOOD. More can be viewed at http://www.missingaircrew.com/trip/sharon/.

The Search Efforts

The largest obstacle at this time to finding the missing aircraft and men is the cost associated with the equipment necessary to scan the ocean floor and document the crash sites? The decision to list the crew as non-recoverable in the late 1940's was due to the desire to downsize the military at the end of war, technology limitations and the focus on other world events such as the Cold War and the Korean War. However, technology no longer stands in our way outside of the cost of gaining access to the technology. For example, the US military would never allow a modern plane today to sink off Yap Island without the attempt to recover the crew using sonar, underwater vehicles and other advanced underwater search equipment. We have spent thousands self funding our search efforts over the last few years, however, a few organizations and individuals have stepped forward to help over the last year. We believe we have secured the use of side scanning sonar equipment through one of these organizations that want to help us find the missing from WWII.

As a country we have repeatedly stated that we will never leave men behind in the field yet we left 78,000 men behind from WWII. Why should we allow the WWII crews to remain in the jungles and water far from home ? My uncle's crew (the Coleman crew) had no attachments to the Island of Yap outside of the job they were given on the morning of the 25 June 1944. Although I cannot directly speak for the men or their individual families, I'm certain the men could never have imagined spending eternity in the Pacific Ocean in an area they likely never heard of before 1944.The crew should not lie anonymously in the waters near Yap Island. The crew member families need to know where their loved ones lie. Their bodies never have been found and their families never have known the peace of closure.

I really believe that a man is not dead until he is forgotten! Let's not forget the missing men from WWII.

October Trip 2008

We would be very interested in anyone who wants to join us on Yap Island next October to participate within the search efforts (diving, jungle, etc.) or to travel to Yap to see the island and/or provide closure to a family member who was lost. Although Yap Island is in a remote location, it is fairly easy to travel to the island via NWA and Continental Airline flights from Japan, Hawaii and Guam. The cost for one roundtrip airfare from the US to Yap has averaged around 2K the last few years. Also, we stay at a wonderful hotel called the Manta Ray Hotel (Yap Divers). It is run by an American, Bill Acker, who has lived on Yap for over 30 years. Bill and his staff provide five star hotel service plus invaluable help to us as we search the water, mangroves and jungle for wreckage. Yap is one of the most beautiful planes on the planet to visit regardless if you're an explorer, searcher, and diver or just want to sit by the pool in a tropical paradise and enjoy a location that few people in the world have visited. If you're interested in joining us next October (2008), please contact Pat Ranfranz for more information at pat@missingaircrew.com or contact Will McFarland with World of Diving for a cost estimate at will@worldofdiving.com.

Pat Ranfranz

Shoreview, MN