ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996 TAG: 9612130066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Pentagon has verified that five U.S. military dog tags recovered in a mountain ravine in southeastern China match the names of American airmen reported lost on a B-24 bombing mission in 1944, officials said Thursday.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin turned over photographs of the dog tags, as well as a videotape of the crash site, to President Clinton when they met in the Philippines last month. Two actual dog tags were presented to Defense Secretary William Perry when he met his Chinese counterpart at the Pentagon this week.
Chinese officials said they had recovered an unspecified number of human remains at the bottom of a deep ravine north of Guilin in Guangxi Province on China's southern coast bordering Vietnam. They also collected small pieces of the World War II aircraft, as well as the dog tags and crew items such as a canteen.
U.S. officials plan to fly to Beijing this month to take possession of the human remains at a military ceremony. Forensic anthropologists will attempt to determine their identities. A U.S. search team also will visit the remote crash site, probably early in 1997, to try to find and recover more remains.
Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Defense POW-MIA Office, said officials had located the original Army report of the lost aircraft and verified the five names.
Greer said the identities of the five dog tags would not be publicly confirmed until the families are notified.
The 1944 War Department report said the B-24 bomber, with a crew of 10 aboard, took off at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 31, 1944, from a 14th Air Force base at Liuchow, China. As part of the 375th Bomb Squadron, the plane bombed Japanese ships in Takao Harbor in Formosa (now Taiwan) and was returning to Liuchow when it disappeared.
Greer said the B-24 crashed into the side of a 6,000-foot mountain and tumbled into a deep ravine. He said China had not explained how - or when - it happened to find the crash site, which Greer said is in an extremely remote area.
A crew member of another bomber on the same mission, Capt. Elmer E. Haynes, wrote in a diary that his plane was within 40 miles of the Liuchow home base on its return trip when it was diverted to another airfield. Liuchow was under air attack. The weather turned bad, and his plane had to circle the mountainous area for hours until daybreak when the crew could see well enough to land.
The pilot of the lost B-24 was 2nd Lt. George H. Pierpont and the co-pilot was 2nd Lt. Franklin A. Tomenendale, according to Army records. The navigator was 2nd Lt. Robert L. Deming, the bombardier was 2nd Lt. George A. Ward, and the engineer was Staff Sgt. Anthony W. DeLucia.
The radio operator was Sgt. Ellsworth V. Kelley, and the radar observer was Pfc. Fred P. Buckley. The three gunners were Staff Sgt. William A. Drager, Sgt. Robert L. Kearsey and Pvt. Vincent J. Netherwood.
The Army has set up a toll-free phone number, (800) 892-2490, for families to call for information.
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