Interesting: Suspected Remains Of WWII Airman Found Dangling From Tree In New Guinea Jungle

August 31st, 2008 Posted By drillanwr.

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Australia’s military was Friday making plans to examine the suspected remains of a World War II airman found dangling from a canopy of trees in a Papua New Guinea jungle last week, a spokesman told AFP.

Hikers on the Kokoda Trail, where a bitter World War II battle was fought between Australian and Japanese forces, discovered the moss-covered body last week, tangled in parachute lines and hanging from trees in the dense jungle.

“I couldn’t make it out at first. It wasn’t until the wind blew that you could really see it is in a harness,” said guide David Collins, who was leading a group of Australian hikers.

“There are goggles and it appears to be caught up in cables, so presumably it is an airman,” he said.

An Australian Defence Force spokesman told AFP on Friday that the military was planning an inspection of the remains in a bid to determine whether they are those of a World War II flyer and, if so, to establish his nationality.

“We are aware of the reports and we are looking at what can be done to identify the remains and establish whether they are of an Australian and if they date back to the Second World War,” a spokesman said.

“It’s too early to speculate on the nationality of the airman or the circumstances of his death. There were allied — Australian and American — and Japanese airmen who would have been flying over the area in the war,” he said.

A Defence Department spokeswoman told the Australian Associated Press that the remains were found close to sites used by US aircraft during World War II.

“A number of allied aircraft had been reported as missing in the area, in particular B25 Mitchells and a number of Kittyhawk aircraft,” she said.

The jungle in the area where the airman was found is extremely dense and hikers are warned not to stray off the Kokoda Trail as unexploded ordinance remains strewn in the area 66 years after months of fighting ended in 1942.

Some 600 Australian soldiers died in battle near the extremely rugged Kokoda Trail which was seen by the allies as a crucial point at which to halt the Japanese military’s southern advance through the Pacific towards Australia.

Around 6,000 Japanese troops tried to cross the trail, which sits atop the Owen Stanley Range, in a bid to capture the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby, which was seen as a possible launchpad for an invasion of Australia

Japanese officials in Port Moresby who have viewed a videotape of the remains were unable to determine the flyer’s nationality.
(AFP)

(As you know, I am quite the ADD cripple. In haste, I neglected to credit the person who tipped this story to me …

h/t to BK, who posted a comment below. My friend BK is quite the history buff, and WWII in particular. … Thanks, BK, and a tip of the BEER to ya!)


10 Responses

  1. rightangle

    Rest in peace now. I hope this prompts more searches and or conclusive evidence that no more Fallen Heroes are in that area.

  2. BK

    Many of us here in the US are not nearly as familiar with the Pacific Theater of Operations of WW2 as we are of the European battlefields. Trekking the Kokoda Track for young Australians is similar to the touring many of us do to Normandy and Holland and Belgium. Many an Australian son came face to face with his father’s war trekking the Kokoda Trail. This is the first time I’ve read of this sort of discovery along it.

    http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_291.asp

  3. (CAPT-DAX)

    OMG..all these years..RIP :beer:

  4. 007 (Alaskan Native)

    That was a Cool Story. I am glad he will finaly be going home. (Salute)

  5. Knottie

    RIP Airmen.. you’re going home now. :beer:

  6. skh.pcola

    Parachute cord is strong, but damn. I guess by the time a couple of years passed and mold/mildew began working on the cord, the corpse had lost most of its weight.

    I hope a family can be comforted by the discovery. Not knowing what happened to a loved one is rough.

  7. mindy abraham

    :sad: RIP to whomever this is.

  8. Tom in CO

    is this possible after 60+ years?

  9. Marc Stockwell-Moniz

    Bless the Airman’s soul. RIP. :beer:

  10. Brent Brentzel

    Please keep us updated

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