Posted on 09/27/2007 5:35:55 PM PDT by Dubya
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is 1st Lt. James W. Blose, U.S. Army Air Forces, of Sharpsville, Pa. He will be buried Sept. 29 in Hermitage, Pa.
Representatives from the Army met with Blose’s next-of-kin in her hometown to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.
On April 22, 1942, Blose and another pilot, 2nd Lt. William S. Shaw, departed Nausori, Airdrome, Viti Levu Island, Fiji, on an airborne alert mission. Soon after takeoff, bad weather forced the pilots to fly below the level of several mountaintops in the area and land their P-39D Airacobras at Nandi Airdrome. Shaw successfully landed his plane, but Blose was not seen or heard from again. Initial ground searches in the thick jungles and rugged terrain were unsuccessful.
In late 2004, a Fiji citizen reported to a U.S. official in Fiji that he located possible aircraft wreckage on Viti Levu Island. The official visited the site and saw the wreckage bearing a data plate that correlated to Blose’s plane. The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) investigated the crash site in early 2005 and collected additional data plate information.
In 2006, a JPAC team excavated the site and recovered human remains and other items including a pilot’s microphone electrical plug with Blose’s initials on it.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of Blose’s remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ or call (703) 699-1169.
“I consider it no sacrifice to die for my country. In my mind, we came here to thank God that men like these have lived rather than to regret that they have died.”
General George S. Patton
The general hit the nail on the head with that statement.
RIP 1Lt James W. Blose
Welcome home, Airman.
Your return has given us the opportunity to think of, to thank, and to pray for you and for all of the heroes who fought for our Freedom and for our very survival as a nation in WWII.
Thank you and may God continue watching over you as he has done for longer than most of us have been on Planet Earth, living in the country that your sacrifice helped to make free.
RamS
Stories like this really hit home for me as my Father was in the U.S. Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater in WWII. He flew 50 missions against the Japanese in a B-24 Liberator with Bugs Bunny painted on the side of the craft.
I had an uncle that had their plane shot down and they had to bail out over China....Army Air Corp I do believe...
Welcome Home Lt.
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