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The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Breakthrough for families 12 years after WWII bomber crash
The remains of four crew members from the WWII bomber "Heaven Can Wait," which crashed off the coast of New Guinea in 1944, are being returned home after a decades-long search. The plane, a B-24, was shot down by enemy fire on March 11, 1944, resulting in the death of all 11 crew members; the wreckage was initially deemed non-recoverable. A relentless investigation by family members led to the discovery of the crash site and a recovery mission by Navy divers, who retrieved remains from 200 feet below the surface. Staff Sgt. Eugene Darrigan was buried in Wappingers Falls, New York, on Saturday, and 2nd Lt. Thomas Kelly was buried in Livermore, California, on Monday; 1st Lt. Herbert Tennyson and 2nd Lt. Donald Sheppick will be interred in the coming months. The recovery and repatriation were made possible through the efforts of Project Recover and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), with a possible future mission to account for the remaining seven crew members still missing.
Asahi Shimbun
6 days ago
- General
- Asahi Shimbun
WWII bomber crash left 11 dead and ‘non-recoverable.' 4 are finally coming home
This October 2017 photo shows wreckage of the B-24 Liberator bomber, Heaven Can Wait, lying on the seafloor where it went down during World War II in Hansa Bay, Papua, New Guinea. (Courtesy of Project Recover via AP) WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y.--As the World War II bomber Heaven Can Wait was hit by enemy fire off the Pacific island of New Guinea on March 11, 1944, the co-pilot managed a final salute to flyers in an adjacent plane before crashing into the water. All 11 men aboard were killed. Their remains, deep below the vast sea, were designated as non-recoverable. Yet four crew members' remains are beginning to return to their hometowns after a remarkable investigation by family members and a recovery mission involving elite Navy divers who descended 200 feet (61 meters) in a pressurized bell to reach the sea floor. Staff Sgt. Eugene Darrigan, the radio operator was buried military honors and community support on Saturday in his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York, more than eight decades after leaving behind his wife and baby son. The bombardier, 2nd Lt. Thomas Kelly, was to be buried Monday in Livermore, California, where he grew up in a ranching family. The remains of the pilot, 1st Lt. Herbert Tennyson, and navigator, 2nd Lt. Donald Sheppick, will be interred in the coming months. The ceremonies are happening 12 years after one of Kelly's relatives, Scott Althaus, set out to solve the mystery of where exactly the plane went down. 'I'm just so grateful,' he told The Associated Press. 'It's been an impossible journey — just should never have been able to get to this day. And here we are, 81 years later.' The Army Air Forces plane nicknamed Heaven Can Wait was a B-24 with a cartoon pin-up angel painted on its nose and a crew of 11 on its final flight. They were on a mission to bomb Japanese targets when the plane was shot down. Other flyers on the mission were not able to spot survivors. Their wives, parents and siblings were of a generation that tended to be tight-lipped in their grief. But the men were sorely missed. Sheppick, 26, and Tennyson, 24, each left behind pregnant wives who would sometimes write them two or three letters a day. Darrigan, 26, also was married, and had been able to attend his son's baptism while on leave. A photo shows him in uniform, smiling as he holds the boy. Darrigan's wife, Florence, remarried but quietly held on to photos of her late husband, as well as a telegram informing her of his death. Tennyson's wife, Jean, lived until age 96 and never remarried. 'She never stopped believing that he was going to come home,' said her grandson, Scott Jefferson. As Memorial Day approached twelve years ago, Althaus asked his mother for names of relatives who died in World War II. Althaus, a political science and communications professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, became curious while researching World War II casualties for work. His mother gave him the name of her cousin Thomas Kelly, who was 21 years old when he was reported missing in action. Althaus recalled that as a boy, he visited Kelly's memorial stone, which has a bomber engraved on it. He began reading up on the lost plane. 'It was a mystery that I discovered really mattered to my extended family,' he said. With help from other relatives, he analyzed historical documents, photos and eyewitness recollections. They weighed sometimes conflicting accounts of where the plane went down. After a four-year investigation, Althaus wrote a report concluding that the bomber likely crashed off of Awar Point in what is now Papua New Guinea The report was shared with Project Recover, a nonprofit committed to finding and repatriating missing American service members and a partner of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA. A team from Project Recover, led by researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, located the debris field in 2017 after searching nearly 10 square miles (27 square kilometers) of seafloor. The DPAA launched its deepest ever underwater recovery mission in 2023. A Navy dive team recovered dog tags, including Darrigan's partially corroded tag with his the name of his wife, Florence, as an emergency contact. Kelly's ring was recovered. The stone was gone, but the word BOMBARDIER was still legible. And they recovered remains that underwent DNA testing. Last September, the military officially accounted for Darrigan, Kelly, Sheppick and Tennyson. With seven men who were on the plane still unaccounted for, a future DPAA mission to the site is possible. More than 200 people honored Darrigan on Saturday in Wappingers Falls, some waving flags from the sidewalk during the procession to the church, others saluting him at a graveside ceremony under cloudy skies. 'After 80 years, this great soldier has come home to rest,' Darrigan's great niece, Susan Pineiro, told mourners at his graveside. Darrigan's son died in 2020, but his grandson Eric Schindler attended. Darrigan's 85-year-old niece, Virginia Pineiro, solemnly accepted the folded flag. Kelly's remains arrived in the Bay Area on Friday. He was to be buried Monday at his family's cemetery plot, right by the marker with the bomber etched on it. A procession of Veterans of Foreign Wars motorcyclists will pass by Kelly's old home and high school before he is interred. 'I think it's very unlikely that Tom Kelly's memory is going to fade soon,' said Althaus, now a volunteer with Project Recover. Sheppick will be buried in the months ahead near his parents in a cemetery in Coal Center, Pennsylvania. His niece, Deborah Wineland, said she thinks her late father, Sheppick's younger brother, would have wanted it that way. The son Sheppick never met died of cancer while in high school. Tennyson will be interred on June 27 in Wichita, Kansas. He'll be buried beside his wife, Jean, who died in 2017, just months before the wreckage was located. 'I think because she never stopped believing that he was coming back to her, that it's only fitting she be proven right,' Jefferson said.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
U of I Professor helps recover WWII airman's remains 81 years later
The Brief WWII airman returns home: 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly was recovered 81 years after being shot down in the Pacific. Family research led the way: A University of Illinois professor traced Kelly's final mission and alerted Project Recover. Crew found underwater: The B-24 bomber was located 200 feet deep; U.S. Navy divers recovered the remains. ILLINOIS - Eighty-one years after being reported missing in action, a second lieutenant shot down in the Pacific during World War II is finally coming home — all thanks to a University of Illinois professor who spent years playing part-time detective. What we know American forces suffered heavy losses in the Pacific during World War II, yet the vast majority of soldiers returned home to live out their lives — including my grandfather, Larry Schneider, a mechanic who helped keep the planes flying. But for the families of the thousands of soldiers listed as missing in action, any lasting memories are limited to what's etched on tombstones atop empty cemetery plots. That includes 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly, a bombardier believed to have been shot down off the coast of New Guinea, perishing along with the entire crew of the B-24 "Heaven Can Wait." "There was a very large memorial stone with a picture of a B-24 Bomber from WWII on it and even at a young age, I was very interested in military history. I knew immediately what kind of plane that was and I knew that there was somebody in my family that had died in the war and had never come back," said Althaus. Fast-forward to Memorial Day in 2013. Althaus decided to take on the role of detective. He asked his mother what she knew about Lt. Kelly's final mission, only to learn that the lingering pain of his loss — and the uncertainty surrounding his fate — made the topic difficult for the family to revisit. "When I was growing up, Tommy Kelly's name was never spoken and like so many members of that generation, when you have a grief that doesn't get accompanied by a casket coming back or even information about the circumstances of your loved ones loss and maybe lingering questions about whether he really died in the first place, that kind of grief with no closure ends for many MIA families as it did for ours with just silence," said Althaus. Althaus began researching Kelly through wartime correspondence and conversations with former friends to gain a better sense of who he was. From there, it was good old-fashioned internet sleuthing that helped Althaus pinpoint Kelly's final mission. "Very quickly I began understanding and people were helping me walk through the process of a much richer trove of information that I would learn was available out there in documenting the experiences of Tommy's wartime unit," said Althaus. From 2013 to 2017, Althaus conducted his research in fits and starts, often dedicating Memorial Day weekends to uncovering the possible location of Kelly's downed B-24. Then everything changed when the nonprofit group Project Recover got involved. Althaus handed over years of research to their team. Then they waited — until Good Friday in 2018, when a phone call changed everything. "Very quickly, they said they found the plane and that it was under 200 feet of water, which would make it a very difficult recovery effort, if the military even chose to want to do that and they showed me for the first time images taken by an underwater robot of our relative's final resting place," Althaus said. Finding the plane was nothing short of a miracle. Recovering the crew — that, too, would prove miraculous. "For me and so many of our family members, we thought that was it. That the journey has probably ended at that point because there had never been a military operation attempting to recover MIA remains at a depth of water like this," Althaus said. Project Recover passed the discovery on to military authorities. With help from the U.S. Navy, a recovery mission was launched. Deep-water divers spent weeks on the ocean floor, painstakingly retrieving the remains of the crew. The crew members were: Pilot: 1st Lt. Herbert G. Tenison Co-pilot: 2nd Lt. Michael L. McFadden Bombardier: 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Gunner: Staff Sgt. Donald W. Burd Navigator: 2nd Lt. Donald W. Sheppick Radioman: Tech. Sgt. Edward Gorvetzian Radioman: Tech. Sgt. Eugene J. Darrigan Photographer: Staff Sgt. John W. Emmer What's next This Memorial Day weekend, 12 years after beginning his journey, Althaus and his family are in Livermore, California — the birthplace of Kelly — who has, at long last, come home. Althaus has since joined Project Recover as a volunteer to help search for the more than 81,000 American service members still listed as missing in action.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
WWII airman's remains returned home to Livermore, 81 years later
The Brief The remains of Lt. Thomas Kelly Jr. were returned to his hometown of Livermore, 81 years after he was declared missing in Action in World War II. A procession and memorial ceremony were held Sunday to honor Kelly's sacrifice. This moment was made possible by 12 years of research, a recovery mission, and cutting-edge technology that located and identified Kelly. LIVERMORE, Calif. - A Livermore man who fought in World War II and was declared missing in action will be laid to rest in his hometown and finally be laid to rest on Memorial Day. The remains of Lt. Thomas Kelly Jr. were brought home Sunday, more than 80 years after his plane was shot down over the Pacific. It was a hero's homecoming through the streets of Livermore Sunday. A procession carried the remains of Lt. Kelly, a native son who this city never forgot. Local perspective "It's important for us to be here to say, thank you," said Livermore resident Alicia Gable. Then, a memorial ceremony was held to honor Kelly's life and sacrifice. "After 81 years, Lieutenant Kelly has finally come home to Livermore," said Livermore Mayor John Marchand. The backstory Kelly's B-24D bomber "Heaven Can Wait" was shot down by enemy fire over Papua New Guinea in 1944. "It hurt. It was like losing a member of the family," said Alice Bruns, who attended high school with Kelly. Kelly and his crew were declared missing in action, and remained missing for 70 years, until Kelly's cousin Scott Althaus started doing some research on Memorial Day 2013. "We knew he was shot down somewhere over Papua New Guinea. We knew the date, but that was it," said Althaus. Althaus connected with Project Recover, a nonprofit that searches for the remains of missing service members. "This was a little over a two-week mission," said Project Recover co-founder Patrick Scannon. "Once we located it, we were able to get down on with a remote camera and determine it was in fact the 'Heaven Can Wait'," said Scannon. In 2023, the military excavated the crash site and Kelly's remains were identified, along with three other members of the eleven-member crew. "The outpouring of grief that had been passed along through generations came out that day," Althaus. Then, plans came together for a homecoming. With the help of the nonprofit, Honoring Our Fallen, Kelly's remains arrived at San Jose Airport on Friday. "Even 81 years later, we're going to bring them home, and we're going to give them the honors that they deserve," said Honoring Our Fallen co-founder Laura Herzog. This homecoming is a day that members of Kelly's family could never have dreamt would actually become a reality. What they're saying "He was quite a guy," said Sandy Althaus, Lt. Kelly's cousin. "Bringing him home means everything." "He's back home, and he'll be with his mom and dad," said Bruns. "It's an impossible story. It should not have happened. And it did. And we're just so grateful," said Scott Althaus. What's next Monday morning, a funeral mass will be held at St. Michael Catholic Church in Livermore, followed by another procession that will pass by Lt. Kelly's childhood home and high school. Then, after 81 years, Lt. Kelly will be properly laid to rest on Memorial Day. The city of Livermore is also planning to build a memorial to fallen service members, which will be named in Lt. Kelly's honor. The Source Interviews conducted by KTVU's John Krinjak
Yomiuri Shimbun
6 days ago
- General
- Yomiuri Shimbun
81 Years after He Died in World War II, a Young Aviator Comes Home
Courtesy of Scott Althaus Crew of the 'Heaven Can Wait' bomber in Papua New Guinea. 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. is the middle figure in the back row, standing with his .45 pistol in a shoulder holster. For many years after 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. was killed in World War II, his parents kept his empty bedroom like a shrine to their only son. In the local cemetery, they placed a memorial stone etched with his name and an image of his Army Air Forces bomber. His body had been lost when the plane was shot down and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Kelly was 21. His mother, Theresa, saved his letters, including one that arrived weeks after his death. When his mother, father, Thomas Sr., and sister, Betty, died, they were laid to rest by his stone. On Memorial Day, 81 years after he was killed off the coast of New Guinea, and two years after his remains were recovered from the underwater crash site, Kelly is to be buried beside his family in Livermore, California. The burial is the culmination of a 12-year search by his relatives – launched on Memorial Day 2013 – that was joined by the Navy, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and the nonprofit partnership Project Recover. 'The thought of watching his casket go in where my mom and her parents are … it's going to be something,' Kelly's niece, Diane Christie, said. 'We're all going to be a big pile of mush.' 'For somebody that none of us knew,' she said. The wreckage was found in 2017 by a Project Recover team, which used the family's extensive research to zero in on the site. In 2023, elite Navy divers descended in a pressurized diving bell and over several weeks recovered Kelly's remains along with those of three other members of the B-24's 11-man crew. The plane was in 225 feet of water, said Lt. Cmdr. Ted Kinney, the Navy's officer in charge. The men wore dive suits heated with hot water, and breathed air that was a mixture of oxygen and helium. He said he participated in one of the dives and found a piece of a human skull as he went through the wreckage. 'It was the first piece of osseous material that we discovered,' he said. 'So we knew we were on the right spot, and we knew that we were going to be able to find people and bring them home,' he said in telephone interview Tuesday. 'It was incredibly humbling,' he said. Kelly was the plane's bombardier. The divers recovered a ring that said 'bombardier' on it, and experts are certain it was Kelly's. Also recovered were his dog tags and the dog tags of two other crewmen. 'I'm just feeling a lot of gratitude right now,' said Scott Althaus, Kelly's first cousin once removed and a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He headed the family's quest to learn the details of Kelly's fate and did months of research on the project. 'I'm sure I will be flooded with emotions,' he said of the burial in a recent telephone interview. 'How can it be that our family is living what should be an impossible story? What made it possible was many people along the way stopping and remembering.' Another niece, Kathy Borst, said: 'I can't even begin to believe that it's truly happening.' 'Only four sets out of 11 of the remains were found,' she said in a recent telephone interview. 'What were the odds that we were going to be one of them?' The project also produced 'hard moments,' she said. During a government briefing about the identification, one expert showed the family an image of a crack in Kelly's skull where his head had struck a part of the plane as it crashed. 'I start visualizing, 'Oh, this is what happened when my uncle died,'' she said. 'It was very, very, very painful.' 'I'm really glad my mom was not alive' she said. (Borst's mother was Kelly's sister.) 'I don't think that would have made this a worthwhile thing for her.' Now they can rest together, she said: 'They couldn't be reconnected ever in life, but they could be lying in the same ground.' Kelly's remains arrived Friday at the San Jose Mineta International Airport from the DPAA's laboratory in Hawaii, where they were officially identified via DNA in November. The plane was greeted by relatives, an honor guard and a water salute from airport fire equipment. He is to be buried in St. Michael's cemetery in Livermore, about 40 miles east of San Francisco, after a religious service at St. Michael's Catholic Church. It's the same church where a requiem Mass was said for him after he was declared dead in 1944, according to his family and an old newspaper report. Kelly's B-24 was nicknamed 'Heaven Can Wait.' (The name probably came from the title of a 1943 movie starring the actor Don Ameche.) Painted on the nose was a racy image of a woman with angel's wings. On March 11, 1944, the plane was shot down during a bombing mission off the north coast of the island of New Guinea, just north of Australia. A crewman on another plane saw 'Heaven Can Wait' catch fire. Three men jumped or fell out. The tail section broke off. The bomber plunged into water and sank near a remote bay off the Bismarck Sea in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. There were no survivors. The 11 men on board were declared killed in action, and their bodies were ruled unrecoverable. Four months earlier, Kelly and three of his buddies had attended a Thanksgiving dinner for 23 people at his parents' home on South L Street in Livermore. On a lighthearted guest register the four signed in as crewmen on a 'Big Ass Bird.' After that Thanksgiving, Kelly's family never saw him again, his relatives said. But two weeks after his death, they got a letter addressed 'Dearest Mom, Dad & Betty.' He had written it two days before his final mission. He talked about sleeping late, getting cigarettes and ice cream, and watching movies at his base. There was no word about combat. 'Give my love to everyone & please be happy & take care of yourselves,' he wrote. 'All my love always, your loving son, Tom.' Kelly's two nieces and nephew, Tom Borst, said they knew little about him while growing up. Christie said they knew only that he hadn't come home from the war. She knew that their mother, his sister, hated the song 'I'll be home for Christmas,' because Kelly had hoped to be home by Christmas 1944. When they visited their grandparents' house, 'we'd go into his bedroom,' she said. 'It was a little bit of a shrine. And we all remember it … I can see it vividly. It was always a little bit dark.' Kathy Borst said she remembered visiting the cemetery 'most Memorial Days of my childhood.' She said she was too young to know why. In one of his final letters home, Kelly told his family: 'I don't want you to feel sorry for me. I'm just telling you to appreciate what you have. … The men fighting here for everyone, they're doing it for your freedom.'
