| Epilogue
Hello, Fellow BentProppers!
I sat down to write a 'report from the field' about my
visit with Eleanore McEnroe, Jim Nelson's Mom. Nothing seemed quite
right so I kept putting it aside. I was hoping to have a really wonderful
"world according to Flip" message for Memorial Day. I guess
I'm a better field reporter when I'm dog tired with a few mango and
rums in me. Wasn't Vic Morrow the journalist like that? No wait, he
starred in Combat. But I think he was like that anyway.
I did have a wonderful visit with Eleanore. She told me
how she and Quintus had met, how they went to different colleges, how
she got her pilot's license before Q.B. got his wings, and how much
our efforts mean to her and Jim. She asked many questions about our
trek and our finds.
She had already seen the video footage from the dive site
and I filled in some blanks about what she was looking at. We also looked
at my photo collection on my laptop. I'm still technology challenged.
Next time I'll have a different camera and different software.
She introduced me to Marilyn Hagerty, a writer/columnist
for the Grand Forks Herald. I've included the article she wrote for
this last Memorial Day [2003] paper. The article that ran in the paper
included some photos, but unfortunately, the archives online at the
Herald does not include pictures. I'll bring my issue to DCA to show
Pat. As it turns out, Pat and the Q.B. story have appeared 3 times in
the Grand Forks Herald. Pat is becoming quite the celebrity in this
North Dakota community. When I went to the Blue Moose for dinner, the
bartender said, "Oh, you're a friend of Pat Scannon. For you, my
very good friend, the price is doubled."
I wanted to paint the correct picture of this visit. I
think Jim's Mom did it the best with her thank you note. Here it is
for your viewing pleasure.
5-25-03
Dear Flip,
I want to thank you so much for taking the time to come
to Grand Forks to see me. Your visit was great and very informative.
Please thank all the others for all you have done for Jim and me.
I feel like I know them after watching the videos, and Jim telling
me about each individual.
We now have closure on Quint's death. You have no idea
what peace of mind that has given both of us.
Flip, I am pleased that you were able to meet my friend
Marilyn. I am enclosing the article she wrote for Memorial Day. I
am also sending that picture you asked for. I can't imagine who would
be interested it. Maybe the skis are a bit unusual, but that was North
Dakota in 1941.
Thank you again and all the BentProp group. We shall
be forever grateful.
Sincerely, Eleanore
Well campers, that is what I did on my spring vacation.
I think I have an update #11 to send that will include this visit, the
Nelson Soirée and our upcoming trip to DCA and the archives.
Anyone have any objections or editorial comments to make?
All the best to all of you. See you when I see you.
Blue SKies, Flip
-----------------------------------------
Grand Forks Herald
Grand Forks Herald (ND)
May 25, 2003
REMEMBERING A FALLEN MARINE
WITH HELP OF BENTPROP PROJECT, FINAL CHAPTER IS WRITTEN FOR FAMILY
OF GRAND FORKS MARINE MAJOR KILLED IN ACTION IN 1945
Author:
Marilyn Hagerty
Edition: FINAL
Section: E- LIFE
Page: 01
Estimated printed pages: 3
Article Text:
Killed in action.
That's all there was.
No other information about where the plane of Marine
Maj. Quintus B. Nelson went down. No remains. No remnants of the single
engine Corsair. Nothing. Just the KIA message at the end of World
War II. All through life, there has been this gnawing feeling inside
Jim Nelson, the son of the Marine from Grand Forks - a feeling that
information other than "shot down by anti-aircraft fire"
must be available about his father's last mission. And that maybe,
just possibly, his crash site and remains would be located. This year
on Memorial Day, there is a sense of peace for Jim Nelson, who grew
up in Grand Forks and is an attorney in Houston. At 59, he has a sense
of closure. That's because a search team in March found remnants of
the plane that his father had been flying. The search party and historians
agree it has to be the plane. Parts were found in water off a Palauan
Island named Ngermalk in the South Pacific. Remnants of the plane
were entangled in coral that has grown around it in the harbor since
April of 1945. You would think that an airplane that went down 58
years ago in a remote part of the world would be long forgotten. But
Jim Nelson learned in the past few years there are people who care
about recovering the wreckage. They do it to help write the final
chapter for the families of those who gave their lives. The hand of
fate? A series of coincidences over the past two years led up to the
discovery of the airplane:
- Jim Nelson was playing golf in Bemidji in the summer of 2001 with
Wally Webber, who mentioned he was a fighter pilot during World War
II. Nelson's ears perked up. He said his father also was a fighter
pilot who was reported killed in action, but whose remains or plane
were never found. Webber told Nelson he flew out of the same airstrip
as his father and told him of Pat Scannon, a medical doctor and chemist
who heads up the BentProp Project - an exclusive group of explorers
dedicated to finding planes and ships lost in World War II.
- Jim Nelson went to San Francisco and met the head of the BentProp
Project. Also present was Walter Meyer, who had been Quint Nelson's
commanding officer. Their conversation over lunch lasted six hours.
Pat Scannon had been searching for Quint Nelson's plane since 1996
and was excited to meet Jim Nelson. Usually, he meets families after
discovering wreckage. In this case, he actually knew the family as
the search was in progress.
- In April of 2002, Jim and his wife, Neel, flew to the Palau Islands
and stayed 11 days. Nelson joined the BentProp expedition team as
they beat their way through uninhabited jungle areas on two coral
islands that jut abruptly out of the sea. Little did they know that
the parts of the plane they were looking for were 50 feet away in
the water in the harbor of one of the islands. The explorers and Nelson
visited with people who were there when the islands were liberated
by Americans. They saw the small airstrip from which Maj. Nelson made
his last flight.
- In March of 2003, the BentProp Project explorers were again on
an expedition to the Palau Islands in search of ships, planes and
those listed as missing in action from World War II. At that time,
a landscaping crew from the marina spotted an anchor in the harbor.
When they went in to get it, they found an aluminum wheel from a Corsair.
And a series of dives turned up more Corsair wreckage that had been
quietly buried in the blue waters for 58 years.
With that coincidence, the BentProp explorers
were elated. They called Nelson in Houston. And he was stunned. Overwhelmed.
Nelson told Pat Scannon: "Prior to meeting you, I believed those
missing heroes from World War II and particularly those missing in
a remote place called Palau had long been forgotten and would never
be located." Nelson said he gained a full understanding of the
difficulty of locating aircraft and airmen on his trip to the Palau
Islands in 2002. He had begun to reluctantly accept the fact that
his father's aircraft might never be located. Now he hopes to go back
to the crash site in the spring of 2004. Jim Nelson was 4 months old
when his father went to the Pacific. Quint Nelson grew up in Grand
Forks and graduated from Central High School. He went to Carleton
College on an athletic scholarship before going into military service.
Nelson's mother, Eleanore McEnroe, lives in Grand Forks. In April
this year, Nelson hosted the entire BentProp expedition team and their
spouses in Houston to say thanks. Nelson invited a few of his neighbors
who had served in the South Pacific during World War II to meet them.
Among the guests were former President Bush and his wife, Barbara.
Nelson, his family and the World War II veterans had a chance to express
profound gratitude to the BentProp team. Until this spring, the only
memorial to Quintus B. Nelson was a post-war monument in the Philippines.
This year, his son knows where he crashed. He has the final chapter.
Reach Marilyn Hagerty at mhagerty@gfherald.com
or telephone 772-1055 or 780-1124. Copyright (c) 2003 Grand Forks
Herald Record Number: 0305250075
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