Vanished
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“Tell Gladys it’s a good thing”: Letters from Jimmie Doyle to Myrle Doyle, June 4, 1944; June 15, 1944; June 29, 1944.
“She keeps him in a state”: Letter from Jimmie Doyle to Myrle Doyle, July 14, 1944.
“When he gets the blues”: Letter from Jimmie Doyle to Myrle Doyle, July 14, 1944.
“Six months ago I got married”: Letter from Johnny Moore to Mary Harvey, August 4, 1944.
the most intimate details of his life: Some of the officers who volunteered for censor duty took more than a passing interest in the men’s mail. Pilot David Zellmer, a dancer from the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York, became fascinated during his shifts as a censor by the letters from one enlisted man to the famous French pianist Robert Casadesus. Zellmer, 76.
“The officers that censor our mail”: Letter from Ted Goulding to Carman Graziosi, August 6, 1944.
“You should have seen us bombing”: Letter from Johnny Moore to Gilbert Harvey, August 9, 1944.
“I have shot down one Jap ship”: Letter from Jimmie Doyle to Myrle Doyle, August 11, 1944.
“Our pilot told us”: Letter from Johnny Moore to Mary Harvey, August 11, 1944.
“Roosevelt and Leaders Map Plans”: New York Times, August 11, 1944, A1.
some eight hundred languages: Recent estimates put the number at 848. See www.ethnologue.com/country/PG.
sprinkled with Japanese holdouts: On mainland New Guinea, holdouts continued to emerge until the mid-1950s; on the islands nearby, they stayed much longer. In 1974, a student named Norio Suzuki was trekking through the Philippine jungle when he came across one Japanese officer, Hiroo Onoda, who was still waiting for orders to leave his post; when Suzuki returned a few months later with Onoda’s wartime commander, Onoda finally stood down. That same year, on Morotai Island just northwest of New Guinea, another holdout named Teruo Nakamura emerged after thirty years in the jungle. Trefalt, 77, 146, 160.
$666.66 a month: Lindbergh, Wartime Journals, 621.
human test subject at the Mayo Clinic: Lindbergh, Wartime Journals, 721.
a “loyal friend of Hitler”: Berg, 436.
his mother, Evangeline, had been on a cruise ship: Lindbergh, Wartime Journals, 873.
“the largest and most modern office”: June 18, 1942, report by Brigadier General R. J. Marshall, MacArthur Museum Brisbane.
his best guess was about 700 miles: The extended range of the P-38 would lead to some controversy, as Air Force bomber units began to insist that fighters join them for long-range missions. For the September missions to Palau, the Long Rangers would not receive fighter coverage, but by October, the P-38s would play a crucial role in the unit’s assault on Balikpapan. Lindbergh, Wartime Journals, 873; Berg, 452; and the writings of Pat Ranfranz, former historian of the 307th Bombardment Group, at charleslindbergh.com.
“MacArthur said it would be a gift from heaven”: Lindbergh, Wartime Journals, 873.
“It banks frantically left”: Ibid., 891.
“I think of Anne—of the children”: Ibid., 892.
Lindbergh was to stop: Ibid., 904.
“Wrecked planes lined”: Ibid., 907.
“Wakde resembles no island”: Zellmer, 97.
“Wakde had recently been taken”: Monthly History Report, 424th Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group, Captain Jack Vanderpoel commanding.
“hopped a landing barge for the mainland”: Britt, 124.
“Johnny is making fun”: Letter from Jimmie Doyle to Myrle Doyle, August 19, 1944.
went in the drink: Sam Britt reports “a number of planes” hitting the water, but most veterans put the figure at one or two. Britt, 126.
“It was an ass-pucker”: Interview with Al Jose, April 23, 2009.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: SECRET POLICE
“making the Palaus expendable”: Peattie, 291.
“All residents of the Palau islands”: Higuchi, 148.
“Bombers attacked. Barracks were burned”: Journal of Aritsune Miyazaki, August 26, 1944. National Archives document 27432G.
“Morikawa, Roosevelt’s spy”: Higuchi, 151.
“how to cultivate tapioca”: Higuchi, 153.
“near total abandonment of the Japanese”: Peattie, 300.
little oversight from Sadae Inoue: As Inoue’s staff officer Toshihiko Yajima later put it, “The South Seas Kempei-tai at that time was not under the command of the Fourteenth Division and in the Palaus, therefore, the South Seas Kempei-tai was of equal status with the Fourteenth Division.” Cross-examination of Toshihiko Yajima, March 30, 1949. National Archive Records, 1661897; Navy JAG Case File 168346.
“The unit commander liked to talk”: Witness Statement of Keishiro Imaizumi, June 18, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
Born on a farm just west of Hiroshima: Many of the Japanese soldiers were interviewed by reporters, doctors, and psychiatrists during the war crimes prosecution. I have drawn extensively on these interviews, and the men’s own testimony at trial. Here, the information about Nakamura comes primarily from the account of his personal physician, and from Nakamura’s own declaration at trial. Testimony of Chisato Ueno, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 14, 1948. Testimony of Kazuo Nakamura, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 26, 1948.
“chase us subordinates with his sword”: Testimony of Kazuo Nakamura, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 26, 1948.
a sergeant from the southern tip of Japan: Yoshimori Nagatome’s petition to the court, Sugamo prison, December 25, 1947; Interview Report of Hoshio Yokoi, April 22, 1947; Witness Statement of Yoshimori Nagatome, April 23, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“I always experienced loneliness”: Personal Declaration of Chihiro Kokubo, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 26, 1948.
the crude and primitive conditions: Kokubo recalled, “We had to move our headquarters in order to escape the devastating American bombings. In order to move into the jungle, we had to do hard work such as moving materials, building living quarters, making air raid shelters and other work, so we were all exhausted from this.” Personal Declaration of Chihiro Kokubo, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 26, 1948.
“There is no kempei-tai in the whole world”: Miyazaki added that the number of prisoners “is increasing by four or five daily,” including those who stole food and clothing, and “uncooperative idlers.” Speech by Aritsune Miyazaki to Korean workers on Babeldaob, May 9, 1945. Transcript printed May 9, 1945, in the Victory Daily News.
ten times as likely to be killed: Fewer than 3 percent of American POWs died in Nazi captivity; roughly 30 percent of American POWs died in Japanese hands. Ferguson, 186.
“Tapatau had many specialists”: Burdick and Moessner, 75.
“every prisoner should receive a gift”: Burdick and Moessner, 12.
“the Japanese mind”: Iris Chang notoriously waded into this territory in The Rape of Nanking, a flawed work that nevertheless contains extraordinary revelations about the Japanese atrocities in that city. Chang, 54.
“the Japanese ordered Tang”: Chang, 85.
twelve thousand Americans: Norman and Norman, 60.
A quarter of those men died: Most prisoners on the Death Railway were British, Dutch, and Australian. Mortality figures are still in dispute, but I have used the most common estimates. For differing accounts, see Kratoska, 13.
“the present condition of affairs”: Browne, 146.
“a Western wall of race and arms”: Lindbergh, Reader’s Digest, 65.
“Their desire is to exterminate the Jap”: Lindbergh wrote these words while camped on the New Guinea satellite island of Owi. Across a three-mile strip of water, he could see the cliffs of Biak Island, where a handful of Japanese troops held back an overwhelming Allied assault for weeks. “If positions were reversed,” Lindbergh wrote, “and our troops held out so courageously and well, their defense wo
uld be recorded as one of the most glorious examples of tenacity, bravery, and sacrifice in the history of our nation.” Lindbergh, Wartime Journals, 879.
CHAPTER TWELVE: LAST DAYS
“Griping and grousing are prevalent”: Monthly History Report for August 1944, 424th Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group, Captain Jack Vanderpoel commanding.
Vanderpoel led the unit’s first mission: This account draws on the 424th Squadron’s mission report for August 23, 1944, but also the account Vanderpoel gave to Pat Scannon about the mission.
“Johnny and I went swimming”: Letter from Jimmie Doyle to Myrle Doyle, August 23, 1944.
“Sis, if you can send me some camera film”: Letter from Johnny Moore to Mary Harvey, August 23, 1944.
“dreadful looking” . . . “ugly ducklings”: Elphick, 19.
“Bob, I was one of those lucky guys”: Faith, 165.
Hope himself cracked wise in baggy fatigues: This scene is drawn from several sources, including the memories and journals of airmen from the Long Rangers, film footage stored at the National Archives, photos and recollections in the Long Ranger keepsake volume We’ll Say Goodbye (84), Hope’s written account in his syndicated column, and the biography Bob Hope: A Life in Comedy (165).
“23 B-24s attacked”: Journal of Aritsune Miyazaki, August 26, 1944. National Archives document 27432G.
wrapped inside the white handkerchief: The story of Ikushima’s remains was recounted by every man on the execution detail. At trial, Kokubo explained, “Much has been said about the ashes of my deceased friend. Such things are worshiped by the Japanese. I am just an ordinary person.” Personal Declaration of Chihiro Kokubo, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 26, 1948; Witness Statement of Chihiro Kokubo, July 22, 1947; Witness Statement of Yoshimori Nagatome, November 13, 1947; Statement of Giichi Sano, December 11, 1947; Witness Statement of Genshiro Hayashi, January 12, 1948, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“as big as a hat”: Journal of William Edward Shivers, 372nd Bomb Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group. Courtesy of Pat Ranfranz, Missing Air Crew Project.
two of the Liberators collided: According to the mission report, “35 miles from the target . . . as the squadron entered a frontal zone these two aircraft were seen to enter a cloud low and to the right. . . . On emerging from this cloud, one aircraft was seen to explode into two pieces and go down in flames. . . . Pilot saw the second ship impact of explosion and turn over on its back.” Mission Report, 372nd Bomb Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group, August 25, 1944.
A third . . . simply disappeared: According to a witness statement in the after-action report, the pilot “feathered all engines and nosed the ship down and disappeared into a cloud bank about 2,000 feet below us. This was the last we saw of Airplane #596.” Missing Air Crew Report #8873, August 26, 1944.
“Watched tanks and boats shell”: Journal of William Edward Shivers, 372nd Bomb Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group. Courtesy Pat Ranfranz, Missing Air Crew Project.
flying the long route to Yap: Pilot David Zellmer of the 371st Squadron wrote, “All the while, one stares out at the vast, barren, blue-green sea, aching for the sight of a ship, even some floating debris, to dissemble the monochrome seascape.” Zellmer, 68.
Lightning cracked and turbulence shook: Mission Reports, 372nd Bomb Squadron, 424th Bomb Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group, August 28, 1944.
“How far below base”: This scene drawn from multiple sources, including Mission Reports, 372nd Bomb Squadron, 424th Bomb Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group, August 28, 1944; Journal of Al Jose, 424th Bomb Squadron; Journal of William Edward Shivers, 372nd Bomb Squadron; Missing Air Crew Report #15302, August 29, 1944; Britt, 127.
“Commanding officer of 372nd”: Journal of Al Jose, 424th Bomb Squadron.
“That boy still doesn’t realize”: Letter from Jimmie Doyle to Myrle Doyle, August 28, 1944.
lost more than forty men: The planes that collided on August 25 carried eleven men each, the Fifth group plane that disappeared the same day carried ten, and the Dixon crash on August 28 claimed eleven—for a total of forty-three casualties in four days. Two members of the Fifth crew may have survived the crash and been captured by the Japanese. The BentProp Project is investigating that loss.
“This war is beginning to get rough”: Monthly History Report for August 1944, 307th Bombardment Group, Major Saul C. Weislow, adjutant.
“How is everyone at home?”: Letter from Earl Yoh, August 31, 1944.
“Sweet . . . my mind is nearly a blank tonight”: Letter from Jimmie Doyle to Myrle Doyle, August 31, 1944.
They gathered at the airstrip: This scene is drawn from dozens of sources, most notably the following: Mission Reports, 372nd Bomb Squadron, 424th Bomb Squadron, and 307th Bombardment Group (Consolidated), September 1, 1944; journal of Al Jose, 424th Bomb Squadron, September 1, 1944; journal of William Edward Shivers, 372nd Bomb Squadron, September 1, 1944; film footage of Wakde Island, September 1, 1944, National Archives; Missing Air Crew Report #8641, September 2, 1944.
He was scheduled to fly: Interview with Cindy Campora, August 3, 2012.
two members of that crew, and the wife of a third: They are Jack Pierce, Dick Johnson, and Jim Raysor’s wife, Martha.
“He was bossy”: Interview with Jack Pierce, August 6, 2012.
“He thought he was better than the rest”: Interview with Martha Raysor, August 6, 2012.
Another pilot, Charles McRae, had been sidelined for weeks: McRae’s crew had been flying temporarily with an older pilot, Carl Appling, who was finishing up his tour. Interview with Greg Babinski, June 12, 2012.
Twice . . . he was forced to turn back: Mission Reports, 424th Bomb Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group, July 3 and 10, 1944.
a close cousin: Interview with Carolyn Arnett Rocchio, October 14, 2009.
their mama’s pet: These and many details about Jack Arnett come from his mother’s keepsake journal, “A Book without an Ending.”
“When we first got there”: Interview with Al Jose, April 23, 2009.
“Palau is hell”: Journal of William Edward Shivers, 372nd Bomb Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group. Courtesy Pat Ranfranz, Missing Air Crew Project.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: BREAKTHROUGH
at least four others: In addition to the original three, there were two B-24s that collided on August 25, one that disappeared the same day, and one that vanished on September 2.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude”: Letter from Jim Jones to Pat Scannon, April 17, 2002.
“The bulb went off”: Interview with Flip Colmer, April 25, 2009.
“What do you think these are?”: Interview with Pat Scannon, December 4, 2008; interview with Flip Colmer, April 25, 2009.
“1100—Now on Pacific”: Scannon Logs, Book 7, 4.
“‘Maybe this guy is crazy’”: Interview with Joe Maldangesang, February 23, 2009.
“I was on the hill at Aimeliik”: For this scene and several others, I have relied on footage provided by Dan O’Brien and Jennifer Powers of the BentStar Project.
“They found something!”: Quote taken from BentStar footage, as noted above.
“I was not letting go!”: Interview with Jennifer Powers, March 4, 2008.
“I finally got the answer”: Journal of Reid Joyce, January 26, 2004.
“It was pure joy”: Interview with Bill Belcher, December 8, 2008.
“What a lucky day!”: BentStar footage.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: FALLOUT
third-bloodiest week: The only comparable periods were July 6 to 13, 1943, when the unit lost five planes, and July 13 to 19, 1944, when the unit lost six. Odenweller, 6.
“My father didn’t talk much”: Interview with Eric Vanderpoel, June 18, 2012.
“It is my regrettable duty”: Letter from Jack Vanderpoel to Katherine Moore, September 28, 1944.
He
promised himself: Interview with Cindy Campora, August 3, 2012.
“I won’t say she abandoned the baby”: Interview with Paul Graziosi, August 29, 2012.
travel aboard the Titanic: Interview with Ted and Bev Goulding, August 28, 2008.
“I thought he had amnesia”: Interview with Diane Corrado, née Goulding, August 26, 2008.
“Everything is so uncertain”: Letter from Diane Goulding to Myrle Doyle, September 20, 1944.
“I got another letter from Diane”: Letter from Katherine Moore to Myrle Doyle, March 15, 1945.
“you did get more of Jimmie’s things”: Letter from Katherine Moore to Myrle Doyle, March 15, 1945.
“Mama said she lost them both”: Interview with Melba Moore, July 15, 2008.
he made a detour over Palau: Interview with Millie Arnett, September 30, 2009.
“That was his biggest regret”: Interview with Cindy Campora, August 3, 2012.
“It is doubtful that a more dangerous”: Britt, 138.
“This turn back . . . was made due to pilot illness”: Mission Report, 424th Bomb Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group, October 3, 1944.
“he lost his nerve”: Interview with Greg Babinski, June 12, 2012; also, notes taken by Babinski during interview with Jack Vanderpoel, August 19, 2004.
“He wore the same outfit”: Interview with Gary Coorssen, April 22, 2009.
“Always blue, always a Pontiac”: Interview with Helen Coorssen, April 23, 2009.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: RECOVERY
“‘I’m not reading what I’m reading’”: Interview with Nancy Doyle, March 17, 2008.
“brain surgery with a chain saw”: Interview with Eric Emery, March 14, 2008.
“Sailor of the Year”: The award had previously been given to SEALs and EOD bomb disposal technicians. Faram, 2.
“You go to these meetings”: Interview with Tommy Doyle, March 17, 2008.
“I probably had hundreds of dreams”: Interview with Paul Graziosi, August 29, 2012.
“It would play over and over”: Graziosi’s written remembrances carry the title “1936 Oldsmobile” in honor of Ted’s coupe.