WWRM MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
September 2008


Identifications from WWII identified since the May newsletter or that have not been previously reported by WWRM (for a complete list of remains recovered since January 2008 - please refer to our archived newsletters):

Ensign Irving A R Thompson
Ensign Eldon P. Wyman
Fireman 2nd Class Lawrence A Boxrucker
2nd Lt. Howard C. Enoch, Jr.






MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR 2ND LT HOWARD ENOCH:


Interment for 2nd Lt. Howard C.Enoch, Jr. took place in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington,
Virginia.  Below are some pictures from the very moving ceremony.   A P- 51 fly-over was done
in honor of P - 51 pilot Lt. Enoch.



                                                               2nd Lt. Howard Enoch
                                                       Photos from Arlington National Cemetery



















































Upcoming DPMO Family Update Meetings:

Nov 15th - San Diego, CA - this will be the last one for 2008 for WWII - hotel information will be provided in our next newsletter.

If you plan on attending either of these meetings please contact me at lphillips5@fairpoint.net as well as registering through your Service Casualty Office (SCO)  or DPMO's website:

SCO Contact:
-
U S Army Casualty Office:         1-800-892-2490
US Marine Casualty Office:         1-800-847-1597
US Navy Casualty Office:         1-800-443-9298
USAF Missing Persons Branch:         1-800-531-5501
East Asia & Pacific Div
    Overseas Citizens Services:         1-202-647-5470


DPMO's website to register is: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/register/



"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:   JPAC will be going to India in October to begin phase I recoveries.   Many thank you's go out to the families of the HAH crew for pushing for this, and  all of the people behind the scenes keeping this alive and in the forefront.

Italy/Yugoslavia:   Our historian contacts in Italy and Yugoslavia have provided information on cases and will continue to try to help families with losses in these areas.   If you have a loss in these areas please contact us so that we can connect you with the historians to help with your case.

Underwater Cases:   We have a dive team willing to work the underwater cases and will be discussing a way ahead on these cases and how to raise funds to make this happen.

From the European Team:   European efforts continue to focus on several cases. These are one B-17 MIA in Bremen, Germany, nine of ten B-17 crewmen in Oberlungwitz, Germany, a partial  B-17 crew in Ouddorp, Netherlands and a known burial of a POW in Lubin, Poland.  New efforts are underway for the Commanding Officer of the 38th Fighter Squadron near Oldenburg, Germany.  Another European search is underway for an infantry MIA lost during the crossing of the Sauer River in Luxembourg during February 1945.

PNG:   As many of you may have read already there were possible remains from a WWII airman found hanging in a tree in the jungles in Papua New Guinea.   We have received word that an Aussie team is going in to investigate and will provide information to JPAC on this.   As more information becomes available we will keep you informed.   Also out of PNG we had someone contact us about burial sites of some POW's and am awaiting more information on this - we will keep you posted on this as well.

X-Files:  WWRM was able to finally obtain some of the X-files that were requested.
Testimonials:   We will be adding a testimonials page to the website.    If you would like a form to fill out a testimonial please contact the webmaster.





UPCOMING MISSIONS:     JPAC upcoming missions for the remainder of FY 08: 

Sept - Europe - 3 recovery teams - they are currently in Europe doing recoveries
                  India - 1 phase 2 testing team
                  Japan - 1 recovery team
                  Vanuatu - 1 recovery team

JPAC's FY 09 begins in October - here is the "tentative schedule" this is not approved and is subject to change:

Europe - Germany, Poland and Italy

South Pacific - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and the Philippines

Moving Ahead - our progress report:

Education on POW/MIA Issues:   We continue to send press releases to SkyControl.   We are also starting publishing information on various WWII Websites/Forums.   

DNA/Genealogy Program  Director:   WWRM would like to welcome aboard Ken McCrea as our
new DNA/Genealogy Program Director.    Ken has been working with the urgent DNA list on JPAC's
website and has found several families.     We will be working with Ken to provide a program and
will be posting further information on the Website.   Welcome aboard Ken!

501 c 3:    WWRM has officially received their 501 c 3 status with the IRS.  



WE NEED YOUR HELP:

WWRM needs more dedicated people to continue to make the WWII efforts work, we are looking for the following positions to be filled:

Family Update Director:    This person will follow a SOP for the family update meetings and will act as a liaison and coordinate with the Press, DPMO, JPAC, SCO (Service Casualty Officers) and family members - there are only 8 Family Update meetings a year.  

Fundraiser/Grant writer:   This position can be shared with a few individuals.    This person would look for grants available for various programs and will help coordinate fundraising events and work directly with our financial officer (VP of WWRM)

Membership Coordinator:    To track membership and keep a spreadsheet of all members and to do membership drives.




Notes from the Webmaster:

This summarizes the changes made to the WWRM website since our previous newsletter:












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.

We have seen a change at JPAC with RADM Crisp becoming the new commander.    We have now received word that more changes will be taking place.    I will be traveling to Hawaii in October to meet with RADM Crisp to verify what those changes will be.   I will also be traveling to DC in September to meet with Sen. Snowe's staff and Sen. Collins staff, as well as attending the National POW/MIA day at the Pentagon, the VSO meeting at DPMO and the memorial service for Howard Enoch.  

As family members we often get very angry at the agencies and all of their staff.   While we should be getting angry that not enough is being done to bring our missing home we really should keep in mind that it is not the workers we should be angry with.    It is in fact the ones in charge that make the rules in this issue.   It is legislative change that needs to take place.   This will only happen through a unified effort to have that change come about.    

Many of the workers at JPAC spend endless hours recovering the remains of our missing.   I want to let you know that many of the investigation and recovery team members spend 9 months of the year away from their families to bring ours home.  Often times, they face harsh and dangerous conditions to do so.   Then there are the historians who go through hundreds of documents to try to prove the case and have to take it to their superiors and have to fight to get that case on the board of recoveries/investigations.   Also there are many people behind the scenes who have to negotiate and argue points to the command as to why these cases have to be excavated/recovered.   All I am saying here is that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that we are not seeing many times as a family member.    There are many people in the efforts that truly do care and do want to return our missing to us.   

We need to be unified and fight for a change in legislation and command to make a difference to bring our loved ones home.    It is a very complicated issue that WWRM works everyday and many times you will not see what is really going on behind the scenes.   Please be assured that WWRM is working these issues everyday and we will not rest until there is some resolution being brought forward.





  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 an article from Mary-Kate Roan, great-niece of MIA 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford: 




1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford













A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the saying goes. Looking over the black and white photograph of a man that so many would never know, it's hard to imagine what he would have been like.
I know what he looks like without colors, but I cannot help but imagine just what color his dark hair really was. Did it have any red tints to it like my grandmother's? What did he sound like when he laughed? Just what color were his eyes? What kind of music did he listen to? Was he a good dancer, or was he the reserved kind of man ? A wallflower even? Was he the kind of man that would always put his best foot forward? Or was he the loner of the group, always brooding and contemplating? Was he a romantic? What was his favorite sport?


The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office states that over 74,000 people were not recovered after World War II. Among them is my great-uncle.
Not much is known about Robert Eugene Oxford in my family other than the fact that he signed up for duty in World War II only to be declared missing in action along with the crew of a B-24 Liberator named "Hot As Hell." His body, along with the plane and crew, were never found. I know more about the plane that carried him than the man himself.


The National Archives and Records Administration speaks highly of the B-24 Liberator, stating that:
"This Consolidated-built heavy bomber reached higher production than any other U. S. World War II combat aircraft. A total of 18,188 of these versatile four-engine bombers was built for the U. S. Air Corps, Navy, and Allies. The B-24 went through many modifications which added armor, power-operated gun turrets, self-sealing gasoline tanks, and armament to the original model. The B-24 was used not only as a bomber but as a tanker and transport, and although it flew in all theaters of war, it was used most in the Mediterranean and Pacific, where longer range gave it an edge over the B-17. This range made it particularly useful in the Pacific for search missions for downed airmen."
"Chennault's Forgotten Warriors, The Saga of the 308th Bomb Group in China" by Carroll V. Glines states that:

"While only two planes were lost on combat missions in January 1944, there were other heavy non-combat losses. Five planes were lost on January 25 on a routine ferry flight to Chabua from Kunming and Chengkung. The weather, reported as sufficiently high at Chabua at takeoff time for the return flight, closed in upon arrival in the Chengkung area. One plane crashed there killing all aboard except two men, Sgts. Donald L. McQueen and George M Keefauver. Two planes crashed after the crews bailed out and two others were reported missing. One of the missing planes, piloted by Major Harry H Musinski, had twelve men aboard, including Lt. Charles H Mortimer, the 425th's flight surgeon. The other missing plane had eight men aboard."
On January 25, 1944, a B-24 named "Hot As Hell" and its 8 crew members took off from Kunming, China for a routine flight to Chabua, India. The crew was listed as:
(Pilot) 1st Lt. William A. Swanson, 0-728935; (Co-Pilot) F/O Sheldon L. Chambers, T-291; (Navigator) 1st Lt. Irwin Zaetz, 0-791661; (Bombardier) 1st Lt. Robert E. Oxford, 0-663308; (Engineer) S/Sgt. Charles D. Ginn, 15084114; (Radio Operator) S/Sgt. Harry B. Queen, 11021096; (Gunner) Sgt. James A. Hinson, 14188472; and (Gunner) Sgt. Alfred H. Gerrans, Jr., 34315848.


The plane never made it to its destination in India. The crew, including Eugene, was declared dead on November 20, 1944. The wreckage was never found. No trace of the plane or crew was ever discovered.
Eugene was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Oxford; siblings, Paul, Clay, Fred and Martha; and a fiance named Susan Brown. His brothers also served in the war.
He graduated from Midland Army Flying School in Midland, Texas on August 13, 1942.
Little else is known about Eugene's service in my family. From letters that were gathered after he was switched from "missing in action" to "killed in action" I can only gather a few skeletal remains of the man that was Robert Eugene Oxford.


In a letter from Matt Quackenbush, a friend of Eugene in the war, written after news of Eugene's missing in action status, the true nature of Gene was discovered; he was known as "Ox" and had "not a fault."
"He is a very good and conscientious bombardier, always did his job as it should be done," Quackenbush wrote. "Also he is very popular with every man in the squadron; lots of times he sang old hillbilly songs for us."
"He'd spend most of the time writing letters and thinking of home," he adds.
It's a story that no one really likes to talk about in my family - mainly because Eugene's family is gone for the most part, save his 94-year-old brother Fred, who despite his age can still drive in heavy traffic and lives in Atlanta. The story has often haunted me. I know that all those years ago when my grandmother died, she wanted to find Eugene, or at least know what happened to him.
And on September 8 (2007), the phone call that three generations of my family have been waiting for finally came.
The plane has been found.

In a remote ravine near the village of Damroh in India, the remains of the plane have been found. Pictures of the crumbled steely flesh of what was once the magnificent iron bird flying in the sky now can be seen on the Internet, a ghostly image with tree branches beginning to blend with the man-made architecture.
Clayton Khules, of MIARecoveries.org, discovered the plane. MIA Recoveries has taken on the task of providing information on ongoing expeditions into Burma, India, Bangladesh and China to locate and document missing-in-action (MIA) Allied aircraft lost in that area of Asia during World War II.
"During World War II," the website explains, "The Allies lost hundreds of aircraft in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of operations. Although hostile fire from Japanese forces accounted for many Allied aircraft losses in the CBI theater, the majority of Allied crashes were caused by inhospitable weather, mechanical failure, or navigational error."


"We attempt to account for and recover those long-lost Allied military personnel and to bring some level of closure to their surviving relatives and friends," adds the MIA Recoveries website.
Khules remains optimistic about retrieving remains and other precious artifacts from the crashsite. "The locals in these areas would leave any human remains as-is and would not remove them," said Khules. "I have every reason to believe all the crew member remains can still be found at the crash site if it is thoroughly and professionally excavated.Khules also has a hypothesis about why the plane crashed in the first place:  "low fuel. There are no high mountains or other physical barriers in the area to cause the crash," he said. "Crashes over high mountains are often caused by icing."


Men died there. In a mixture of chaos and bravery, men lost their lives there. I should hope it was an immediate death for them all - as I'm no expert, that would be my general impression. I imagine fear, and I certainly can imagine pain beyond my comprehension going through these fine examples of men in their final moments.


But I hope in many ways that my imagination is wrong.
A parachute, oxygen tank and "numerous human remains" were found at the site of the crash, and even more hopeful for the possibility of identification is the fact that there doesn't appear to be any signs of fires that damaged the area. However, the battle has only just begun. Now, my family has to somehow convince the government to investigate this crashing.


One thing is certain for the plane "Hot As Hell" and its crew:
It's time for these heroes to come home. After over half of a century in a foreign country, away from their families, they can finally begin their journey home. No longer are their rotting remains alone amongst the wilderness. At least now we know a little piece of the puzzle - that they did indeed crash and didn't simply vanish into thin air.
"I hope you get home before you get this letter," said my grandmother in a returned letter to Eugene. "It would be the best thing we could have happen to us now to hear that you were out of that jungle and on your way home. We certainly haven't given up hope and won't. We have read so much about boys that have been in those jungles for months and still find their way out. It really gives us encouragement."
But the battle's just begun. There still needs to be a formal investigation into why the plane crashed; the bodies need to be identified (probably through DNA from the bones); and the crew needs to finally come home to rest in peace.