Beheaded on New Guinea, Honored in Rhode Island

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May 27th, which happens to be Memorial Day in both United States and Japan this year (2013), was the 69th anniversary (1944) of the downing of Army Air Corps 2nd Lt. Robert E. Thorpe's P-47D Thunderbolt by Japanese ground fire near Kairiru Island, New Guinea.

Lt. Thorpe, 20, after ditching his damaged plane, swam ashore to Kairiru. There, he had the misfortune to become a POW to some of Imperial Japan's more sadistic Naval officers.

According to a Yokohama War Crimes Trial summary record (Case 329), Thorpe was first beaten and interrogated by Lt. Commander Kaoru Okuma and and Lt. Isamu Amenomoro. When Thorpe continued to refuse to supply any information other than name, rank and serial number, Okuma invited a group of soldiers to join in on the beating.


Whether Thorpe cooperated or not, the Commander of the 27th Japanese Special Naval Base Force Rear Admiral Shiro Sato had already ordered his execution. He explained to his Chief of Staff that on the Mainland all captured American flyers were executed and that "under the present circumstances...the execution of the prisoner of war cannot be helped."

Lt. Yutaka Odazawa, who had been selected to execute the prisoner, warned his fellow officers who wished to use Thorpe as target practice to shoot the prisoner below the waist otherwise it would difficult to behead him. After a number of gunshot wounds, Thorpe dropped to his knees and was held in this position at the edge of freshly dug grave. The trial records note:

Odazawa said to the flyer, "I am going to behead you under orders";  "I am golng to kill you"; "I Odazawa will now proceed to execute you"; "You wilI first go to Paradise, and I will follow you later on"; "Due to the war, it cannot be helped; I will dispose of you." He then poured water on the prisoners neck and on his samurai sword. With one blow of the sword, he struck the prisoner in the back of the neck. The head was not completely severed, but was hanglng by a small bit of flesh. After the blow the prisoner fell into the grave.

In the trial testimony, it was said that a Medical Petty Officer Waichi Ogawa climbed into the grave and cut out an organ from the deceased flyer. It does not say what was removed, but it is likely to have been the liver. As documented in James Bradley's, Flyboys: A True Story of Courage (2003), it was not unusual for Japanese commanding officers to consume the liver of their enemies.

Rear Admiral Shiro Sato killed himself and his entire family at his Yokosuka home in 1946. Petty Officer Waichi Ogawa was Sugamo Prison's first suicide (August 1947) during the Yokohama Class B and C War Crimes Trials. Lt. Commander Kaoru Okuma, was convicted in 1948 for his war crimes and hanged in 1949. Oddly, according to court records, his own father concurred with the death sentence.

Remembered in Rhode Island
On May 14th, Rhode Island State Representative Peter F. Martin (D-Dist. 75, Newport) introduced a Resolution on the House floor – unanimously supported by the Chamber – honoring Rhode Island native Lt. Robert E. Thorpe. “Lt. Thorpe is a hero in every sense of the word,” said Representative Martin. “He probably could have escaped some of the brutality inflicted upon him if he had been willing to cooperate with his captors. Instead, he went to his death bravely and defiantly.”

State House Resolution H 6114 (2013) "requests the Governor to honor 2nd Lt. Robert E. Thorpe posthumously with the Rhode Island star and the Rhode Island cross for his extraordinary heroism in the service of our nation during WWII; and be it further RESOLVED, That this House hereby urges the Graves Record Administration to re-investigate and bring the remains of 2nd Lt. Robert E. Thorpe home."

2nd Lt. Robert E. Thorpe's unmarked grave was never found and a memorial had never been held. Yet, his family and dedicated others have in the past decade stepped up efforts to locate him. During August 2009, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) did excavate a grave site thought to be Thorpe's, but found nothing.

On May 17th, the Rhode Island State House finally honored Lt. Thorpe at a special ceremony [a video worth watching]. Present were Lt. Thorpe’s brother Gill and members of his family as well as Capt. Lewis Lockhart, a WWII fighter pilot who was Lt. Thorpe’s friend. Political leaders present included Governor Lincoln Chaffee and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, who is the first Asian-American mayor in Rhode Island. Mayor Fung declared May 17th Robert E. Thorpe, Jr. Day in Cranston.

Video of the Ceremony

Unforgotten
A book in the works, Broken Trust by Ken Dooley [to be published August 2015 as Relentless Pursuit], documents Thorpe's life, death, and the quest to bring him home. One journalist who previewed the book said it suggests the question "Were a good many guilty people in Germany and Japan spared the justice they deserved?" He compares the draft with the bestseller Unbroken and observes that they demonstrate "how that spirit of reconciliation has been disturbed in the last decade, as several writers have gone back and combed official records and trial transcripts that paint a Japanese culture far removed from serene gardens, arranged flowers and delicate poetry pondered in the moonlight."

Dooley said at the memorial ‘‘There once lived a man named Robert E. Thorpe, who stood on a lonely beach and who, in the words of one of his tormentors, died magnificently.’’

These memorials, resolutions, books, articles, and videos show that Imperial Japan's victims are not forgotten. A new generation still searches for closure. The Japanese are wrong to believe we will forget.

Recovery of POW remains in India Delayed

Crash Site in India

According to India's Express News Service, April 16"

An expedition by the US department of defence to recover remains of over 55 airmen from a World War II plane crash in Tripura in May has been postponed, with India reportedly not yet ready to give the go-ahead.

Sixty-seven years after the C47 43-48308 transport plane went missing, a team from the department’s Joint POW/MIA (Prisoners of War/Missing in Action) Accounting Command was reportedly planning to visit Tripura to recover the remains of US soldiers and return them to American soil for burial. The transport plane went missing on May 17, 1946 during a flight from Rangoon to Calcutta. Along with a three-member flight crew, it was carrying eight US military investigators and unusually, remains of 47 soldiers who had died as POWs of the Japanese.

But, as the families of the missing airmen were hoping to finally get a sense of closure, they received a notice from the US defence department that the recovery operations had been postponed indefinitely. “Recovery operations in India have been postponed until further notice from the Government of India,” said W Montague Winfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for POW/MIA Affairs. “We will continue to work with the Indians in hopes of conducting recovery operations there in the near future,” he said.

As per the US official, there are around “400 unaccounted-for US service members in India as a result of air crashes in World War II”.

According to official sources, the US side had been pushing for the expedition to reach Tripura by a specific date, but since arrangements by Indian authorities were not finished, the expedition was not given the green signal.

Sources said the expedition has only been postponed till a new date is fixed, and can take place this year depending on local conditions. The US first made a request to restart the recovery missions that had been suspended in 2009, during the political-military dialogue in April, 2012. At that time, India had said it was looking into the “possibility of agreeing to the proposal”.

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Although the above article suggests that India is delaying, Military.Com notes that JPAC (Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command) recoveries are being hit hard by sequestration. The Indians may be simply frustrated that they are not getting paid. Nevertheless, American officials privately say it is taking time to build relationships with Indian officials as this would be the first recovery mission in India. They contrast the situation with Vietnam, which they characterize as going very well. Apparently diplomacy with India is very touchy.
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The plane crash site was first discovered in 2009 by Clayton Kuhles, founder and leader of MIA Recoveries.

Here is Mr. Kuhles' report as it appears on his website. The list of POW remains, all having likely perished in Burma as POWs, is especially interesting for readers.

C-47B #43-48308 Missing Aircrew Report Site Report: 05 Nov 2009

View the CrashedAircraft Site Report

Click here to viewPOW Remains List

Click here to view map of crashsite location

This C-47 aircraft of the 10th Air Force was assigned to the post-war American Graves Registration Service (AGRS). Very early in the morning on 17 May 1946, it departed Mingaladon airport at Rangoon, Burma for Barrackpore / Calcutta, India. The aircraft had a crew of 3 from the 1304th Air Force Base Unit and 8 passengers, including a 6-man AGRS team. This aircraft was transporting possibly as many as 43 sets of US remains which were recently recovered by the AGRS team from POW cemeteries in southern Burma.

A heavy storm was developing over the Bay of Bengal that day, and it was moving to the N - NE. The aircraft would unavoidably be running into the storm along its route to Barrackpore. The standard flight route from Rangoon to Barrackpore required flying over the NE corner of the Bay of Bengal between Akyab, Burma and Calcutta. The pilot was known to dislike flying over water; furthermore, before departing Mingaladon, the pilot told airport personnel he could not fly over water on this flight because he did not have enough life jackets aboard. The pilot stated he would instead follow the coast, and if he encountered a storm over Akyab, he would fly N or NE to skirt around it.

The pilot radioed Barrackpore at 0610Z to report he had passed over Akyab at 0530Z, was flying on instruments and he expected to arrive at Barrackpore at 0800Z. At 0615Z the pilot radioed Barrackpore for a weather update, and Barrackpore had to respond to him twice due to heavy atmospheric interference. At 0705Z the pilot mistakenly responded to a call from Barrackpore to another aircraft and said he had nothing to report. This was the last contact with C-47B #43-48308. The plane was never heard from again and its location is unknown. Dead: 11 plus possibly as many as 43 sets of US POW remains.

Pilot: 1st Lt. Horace J. Gabbart, xxxx9790
Check Pilot: 1st Lt. Melvin L. Power, xxxx3431
Radio Operator: Pfc. Eugene F. Ryan, xxxx4187
Passenger: Lt. Cmdr. James T. Campbell, xxxx5425
Passenger: Capt. Roy W. Corley, xxxx7766
Passenger: 1st Lt. Harry Chan, xxxx7552
Passenger: 1st Lt. Henry E. Derbyshire, xxxx6766
Passenger: 1st Lt. Donald S. Dutton, xxxx8713
Passenger: SSgt. Glenn F. Cox, Jr., xxxx1684
Passenger: Sgt. Warren R. Haines, xxxx3730
Passenger: Cpl. Wallace J. Davis, xxxx1295

View photos from this recovery mission

View the C47B #43-48308 ID Reference

Search for POW remains in the Philippines continues

Painting by Ben Steele

U.S. and Philippine Governments Partner to Investigate Remains of 

American service members in the Philippines from World War II

JPAC FACT SHEET

Manila, January 18, 2013 –This week, personnel from the U.S. and Philippine governments will begin preliminary investigations into possible locations of the remains of American Prisoners of War (POWs) and those Missing in Action (MIAs) in the Philippines.

 The effort is led by the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), based in Honolulu, whose humanitarian mission is to conduct global search, recovery, and laboratory operations to identify more than 83,000 unaccounted-for Americans from past conflicts.  Alongside Philippine partners, the JPAC team will be searching for evidence of about 80 Americans who remain unaccounted-for from World War II.  A nine-member investigation team will work with Philippine partners to authenticate leads from eyewitnesses and conduct field research at numerous locations throughout the Philippines to determine whether a return visit for excavation is merited.

 “These investigations have the potential bring long desired closure for the families of American service members who went missing while serving their country in the second World War,” said Brian L. Goldbeck, Charge d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy.  “We are truly grateful to our Philippine partners for working closely with us to facilitate this project.”

 The joint investigations follow the signing of a Statement of Intent on June 3, 2011 between the United States and the Philippines to collaborate in researching, investigating, recovering, and conducting forensic reviews of American POW and MIA remains.  As part of the agreement, JPAC personnel are required to respect all Philippine national and local laws and regulations, local customs, traditions and courtesies.

 All activities are being closely coordinated with and facilitated by the Government of the Philippines, with involvement from the Philippine Departments of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Health, Interior and Local Government, Environment and Natural Resources; the National Museum of the Philippines; the Bureaus of Customs and Immigration; the Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement; the National Bureau of Investigation; the National Commission on Indigenous People; the Armed Forces of the Philippines; and the Philippine National Police.  

For press inquiries, please contact the U.S. Embassy Information Office at 301-2363 or email at mnlinfooffice@state.gov.