by Sarah Sherman
On May 17, 1946, a C-47 crashed en route from Rangoon, Burma, to Barrackpore, Calcutta, India, just 55 minutes short of landing. On board were: an American flight crew; members of a U.S. team from the Graves Registration; several other servicemen just trying to get home; the remains of 41 American military personnel who had been prisoners of war (P.O.W.s) in Rangoon; and the remains of five crew members from the downed B-24 "Bugs Bunny." A total of 53 Americans and/or their remains were lost that day. An air search was later conducted for the downed aircraft, but continued unrest on the ground and the dense vegetation prevented a thorough land search.
That day, fate added the loss of information compiled by Lieutenant Donald Dutton and Lieutenant Henry Derbyshire, who were on their way to Calcutta to attend an American Graves Registration Service conference. Here they would have reported on weeks of investigations in Rangoon, Siem, Malay Straits, Java, and the Adaman Islands in regard to air wrecks, Japanese executions, and isolated American burials performed by locals.
The remains of Boothbay Harbor's own Malcolm Carter were presumed on board the downed C-47, and now the time has come to bring him home along with the other crash victims.
During the Second World War, Malcolm served as a tail gunner on board the "Bugs Bunny" until it was attacked by Japanese fighters and exploded in midair on December 1, 1943. Malcolm was listed as Missing In Action (M.I.A.). The bomber crashed in a banana grove 11 miles from Inye Village, Burma. The sole survivor and later P.O.W. in Rangoon, Lieutenant Grant W. Erwin, Jr., stated in an after-action report, "When I bailed out at about 300 feet, the remaining crew was either dead or unconscious and entirely surrounded by flames, which filled the whole aircraft from the nose wheel all the way aft." One man bailed out with Lieutenant Erwin, but later died of his injuries in the Rangoon prison camp. Government documents indicate that the remains of five of the crew members were recovered by military personnel and it is believed that the other three were buried in the banana grove by natives from the nearby village.
For the last four years, Lisa Phillips of Windham has been searching for answers pertaining to her uncle, Second Lieutenant Joseph Rich of Portland. Lieutenant Rich died as a Prisoner Of War (P.O.W.) in the Rangoon Prison Camp in Burma.
One day, while looking through military documents, Lisa discovered a crash report. She not only found her uncle's final resting place, but discovered that there were 52 other Americans whose remains were left in the jungle in Bangladesh. At that point Lisa made up her mind to find the other men's relatives and see what she could do to get them brought home once and for all. To date 28 of the original 53 have been found, but Malcolm Carter's name was still on that list.
On July 10, Lisa Phillips took a chance and contacted me after finding my name on the World War Two Memorial Website. I was listed there as a sponsor for Malcolm Carter as I am for all the veterans in my books, Southport: The War Years and Heroes Among Us. Lisa wanted to know if I knew of any Carter relatives remaining because family members need to contact the government to claim Malcolm and provide a D.N.A. sample. I told her I had gone to high school with several children from the Carter clan and I was sure I could help her with her project.
As fate would have it, I ran into Leslie Carter Blethen at the circus the next night and told her the story. She was excited and said she would call her grandmother, Dorothy Carter, who knew the family history well. I also passed the information on to Douglas and Ralph Carter, who were Malcolm's nephews. Hooking Lisa up with the Carter family brought her search up to 29 families found, 24 to go.
Currently, the United States government allots roughly one million dollars per year towards World War II research and recovery. That equals five investigations per year pertaining to WWII's 78,000 M.I.A.s in comparison to ten investigations per year pertaining to Vietnam's 1,800 M.I.A.s.
Lisa and I have decided to join forces to try to find the remaining 24 families of the C-47 crash victims. Our first plan of action is to contact the remaining men's hometown newspapers, as well as the ones with a larger circulation in their state, and present this story to them with the hopes that someone out there will read it and recognize one of the men's names and contact us. They read as follows:
PFC Eugene F. Ryan - Webster Groves, MO
Lt. Cmdr. (USNR) James T. Campbell - Lima, OH
Staff Sgt. Glenn F. Cox, Jr. - Danville, IL
T/5 Wallace J. Davis - Orange, VA
1st Lieutenant Henry E. Derbyshire - Chambersburg, PA
T/4 Warren R. Haines - Medford, NJ
2nd Lieutenant Everett E. Briggs, Jr. - Raleigh, NC
Sgt. James Brown - Michigan
Sgt. Elias E. Gonsalves - Los Angeles, CA
1st Lieutenant James M. Grey - Philadelphia, PA
Staff Sgt. Francis B. Jordan - Stockton, CA
G.R. Murphy (No rank or serial number - hometown unknown)
Lt. Col. Everett C. Plummer - Trenton, NJ
Staff Sgt. Frank Rodriquez - Oakland, CA
1st Lieutenant Robert F. Angell - Richmond, VA
2nd Lieutenant Thomas P. Hogan, Jr. - Pittsburgh, PA
Captain Armin J. Ortmeyer, Jr. - Tampa, FL
Captain Bill Wright - Commerce, TX
2nd Lieutentant Clarence A. Clyborne - Bluefield, WV
Sgt. Alfred L. Busby - Newkirk, OK
Carl F. Carpenter - Cannon Falls, MN
Sgt. Paul I. Elyea - Michigan
Staff Sgt. Robert McCarty - New York
2nd Lieutenant William R. McCandless - Iowa
Sgt. Eugene L. Moyers - Tennessee
Lisa is currently circulating a petition to Congress to increase the funding needed to perform this type of investigation. She notes that many people of the WWII generation don't have access to the internet or haven't had the opportunity to learn how to use it. This puts them at a disadvantage to do the kind of research necessary to help them find out what happened to their lost family member and Lisa views it as a form of discrimination. Many families came to terms with what the government told them back in 1946 or, in the case of the crew of the "Bugs Bunny," have not know what happened to their loved ones since they were reported M.I.A. in December of 1943.
On July 25, Lisa is flying to Washington, D.C., to meet with the Press Minister of Bangladesh. Initial correspondence with him indicates that his government is interested in helping the United States in any way they can to bring these men home. Lisa has Maine Senator Susan Collins' endorsement behind her, too. She also has presented such a strong case to our government, the Joint P.O.W./ M.I.A. Accounting Command in Honolulu, Hawaii, has given her the verbal go ahead that they will investigate the crash site pending approval from the Bangladesh government.
The Defense Attache in the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh has already begun investigations and has started interviewing villagers near the crash site. Lisa has also worked closely with the U.S. Army Repatriation and Family Affairs Division (RFAD) in Alexandria, Virginia (1-800-892-2490). This organization works as a liaison between family members and the government agencies involved with military recoveries.
According to Lisa the usual procedure when dealing with newly discovered military remains is to bring the remaining skeleton back to the United States, obtain D.N.A. out of it, then try to find any remaining family members and ask for their D.N.A. so the remains can be claimed and receive proper burial. In this case we're trying to speed up the process by producing the family members up front and have the D.N.A. donors in place, too.
Once in a while there comes an opportunity to do something really good, not because you get something in return, but because it can help someone else. This is one of those chances for all of us. Please take the time to read the names listed above carefully and see if you recognize any of them. If you know someone in one of the hometowns, please call them and tell them the story. There are family members out there somewhere, who need to be found so these men can be claimed and the recovery process started. Please contact Lisa Phillips at 207-892-4039 or Sarah Sherman at 207-633-7161, or e-mail us at the following website (missing43_48308@yahoo.com) if you have any information that you think might help solve this 59-year-old mystery.
I thought this quote from the World War Two Memorial's Eastern Corner was an appropriate ending and tribute to these men and to all the other M.I.A.'s who have yet to return to American soil, "They Fought Together As Brothers-In-Arms. They Died Together And Now They Sleep Side By Side. To Them We Have A Solemn Obligation."
- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.
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