P-MAN III - 10             

Ngatpang/Execution/POWs (continued)

4.  Interim Overall Summary and Conclusions

  1. Two field searches in the area of Gaspan Hill have been conducted over a 13-month period by CILHI, with support from Dr. Shuster and Dr. Scannon, numerous Palauan individuals and the officials of Ngatpang State.
  2. A site was discovered on 15 November 2001 on Gaspan Hill, which was felt by that search team to be consistent with the exhumation site of the executed prisoners.
  3. This site is also consistent with the recorded description of the site by a Japanese soldier and participant in the execution, as well as a Palauan elder lady, Katalina Katosang, who was part of that search team.
  4. The CILHI search team was authorized to conduct only a surface search and will consider further exploration should any further leads arise.

NOTE OF APPRECIATION:

Professor Shuster, the members of the CILHI teams, the members of the P-MAN teams (Bent Prop Project) and the members of Post Star Production thank Mr. Gilbert Demei, Delegate Techitong and the Chiefs and Officials of Ngatpang for all the information, guidance and support provided for these explorations.

All reported combat-related losses of B-24s over or around Palau, 1944-1945:

MACR
Date
of Loss
Command
Pilot/SN
Unit
BS/BG/AAF
B-24
Tail No.
Select
Mission
Data
8873* 25Aug44 Lt. Grant Rea
0684047
 72/5/13 44-40596 Last seen:
~N7°9' X
E134°46'
? 25Aug44 Lt. Walter Davis/? 372/307/13 '549 '549 and '542 collided ~ 35 miles after mission @
N6°48' X
E134°45'
? 25Aug44 Lt. Kenneth Kienzle/? 372/307/13 '542 See above
15302 28Aug44 Cpt. William Dixon
0406716
 372/307/13 44-40603 Shot down over Koror
8641* 01Sept44 Lt. Jack Arnett
0809803
 424/307/13 42-73435 Shot down between Koror and Babeldaob
? 02Sep44 Lt. Perenti/? ?/307/13 '111 Probable water loss 40 minutes after mission, last seen @ N6°10' X
E134°30'
14351* 4May45 Lt. Glenn Custer
02058730
 867/494/7 44-42058 Fuselage
~N7°20' X
E134°30'
* Three A/C lost over Palau associated with POW's reported after WWII by Japanese officials. MACR 8873 POW's: Lt. Rea and S/Sgt Curry; MACR 8641 POW's: Lt. Schumacher, S/Sgt Moore and Sgt Vick; MACR 14351 POW: Lt. Kaufmann (beheaded May 45 by IJA - only remains recovered to date).

Note 1: Losses listed in this table exclude such operational losses as losses on take-off or landing at Wakde Island (307th BG(H) and 5thBG(H) of the 13th AAF) or at Angaur Island (494thBG(H) of the 7th AAF).
 
Note 2: One additional B-24J (44-40571, 371 BS/307th BG(H)/13th AAF, CP = Lt. Ron Anthony, MACR 8638) was shot down over Yap on 10 Aug 44 with two POW's reported: S/Sgt. Reynold Mooney (33427402) and Sgt. Hilary Gilbert (33525525). Shipped from Palau on 19 Aug 44, no further reports of their fates have been found to date.
 


Note: While we were returning home after the trip to Gaspan Hill, Henaro Antonio took us all on a side trip near his gas station and store to see a small burned out Japanese military convoy in a nearby jungle. One of the trucks had behind it a trailer with a massive searchlight, shattered by bullets presumably from strafing American aircraft. The question arose as to why the Japanese military might have wanted such a searchlight. The B-24 AAF missions as well as the VMF missions from Peleliu were all daylight missions and no airman interviewed to date recalls seeing Japanese searchlights used in Palau. Research by Dan O'Brien of Post Star Productions indicates that such searchlights were used by the Japanese during darkness to assist Japanese pilots in finding (small) islands in the Pacific. This may well be the reason such searchlights were used in Palau.

You can view the other sections of this report by clicking the navigation arrows at the top or bottom of the page, or click the following links to view specific other sections of the report:

  1. Summary Report, 4-16 October 2000, by Professor Donald R. Shuster, University of Guam
  2. Summary Report, 13-15 November 2001, By Dr. Patrick J. Scannon, Bent Prop Project
  3. Preliminary report concerning Palau Execution and Burial Sites, by Mr. M. Emerson Wiles, CILHI
  4. Interim Overall Summary and Conclusions (see above)