“The darker the night, the brighter they shine”: Letter from Dessie Arnett to Myrle Doyle, September 10, 1945.
“She believed he was alive”: Interview with Carolyn Arnett Rocchio, October 14, 2009.
“I received a letter from the War Department”: Letter from Diane Goulding to Myrle Doyle, September 20, 1944.
“No, no, that letter is yours”: Interview with Nancy Doyle, March 17, 2008.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: TRAPPED
“Two guys bailed out”: Journal of Al Jose, 424th Bomb Squadron, September 1, 1944.
“1st Lt. Arthur Schumaker”: From Casualty Message No. 356093, PAC, December 22, 1945. The misspellings of Schumacher’s and Vick’s names originated with the Japanese, who first named the three men in a telegraph sent to Tokyo command on September 9, 1944. This telegraph was later surrendered in a memo from Vice Admiral Ito Kenzo to Brigadier General Ford Rogers, September 19, 1945.
the lead investigator simply closed the case: The June 12, 1947, report found that “the fliers were captured and on 5 September 1944 were placed aboard the NANSHIN MARU for Davao. All efforts to trace the fliers from this point have met with negative results. No further investigation will be conducted by this office. The case is closed.”
“All the sea lanes were mined”: Interview with Pat Scannon, June 10, 2011.
“place where the prisoners squatted down”: Witness Statement of Genshiro Hayashi, January 12, 1948, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“where we buried the bones”: Witness Statement of Harukichi Iwamoto, December 2, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“about 1100 on the first of September”: Witness Statement of Toshio Watanabe, December 15, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“sitting in a room at the end”: Witness Statement of Hideo Ishizuka, January 19, 1948, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“the prisoner said, ‘Thank you’”: Interview Report of Sekio Seki, January 29, 1948, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“If we are lucky enough to survive”: Zellmer, 93.
“I learned about the organization”: Testimony of Toshihiko Yajima, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 20, 1948, 44.
After three days of questioning: The same day that Yajima called off questioning, the Long Rangers sent their final search plane to look for the missing crew. Pilot David Zellmer recorded in his journal, “No rafts, no floating oxygen bottles, no torn strips of aluminum, no oil slicks; only the blue-gray Philippine Sea from horizon to horizon and the pencil-line coast of Babeldaob in the distance. Could the men have been picked up by the Japanese? Would we ever know? We crept back to Wakde in the silence of our failure.” Zellmer, 102.
on September 6: The date is disputed by Japanese soldiers who were present. Some believe the air raid and execution took place on the fourth or fifth of September. I have gone with the sixth because it is the date recalled by Watanabe, whose memory was correct on so many other details. Witness Statement of Toshio Watanabe, December 15, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“Suspend the investigation”: Testimony of Toshihiko Yajima, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 20, 1948, 44.
“Miyazaki said to me”: Witness Statement of Giichi Sano, December 11, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
Nakamura’s health was declining: As noted earlier, the description of Nakamura comes from his own testimony and that of his personal physician. Testimony of Chisato Ueno, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 14, 1948; testimony of Kazuo Nakamura, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 26, 1948.
“I was slowly beginning to recover”: Witness Statement of Yoshimori Nagatome, November 13, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“The prisoners were sitting”: Testimony of Yoshimori Nagatome, Guam War Crimes Trials, January 25, 1948, 88.
“We came to a wide grassy field”: Witness Statement of Sekio Seki, January 29, 1948, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
Schumacher fell: There is some disagreement between Japanese soldiers about the sequence of the killings. I have gone with the most common account, which has Colonel Miyazaki killing Schumacher first, officer to officer, with a gun, before ordering the two beheadings.
“‘This is for Ikushima’”: Witness Statement of Chihiro Kokubo, July 22, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“The depth of the wound”: Witness Statement of Giichi Sano, December 11, 1947, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“Bury the bodies”: Witness Statement of Genshiro Hayashi, January 12, 1948, Guam War Crimes Trials, Evidence Files, Palau Case #3.
“Here’s what I want to do”: From observation. I was with Atherton and the Navy divers for this.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book began as an article for GQ magazine, where I spent many happy years as a writer. Under the guidance of Jim Nelson and Andy Ward, there seemed no subject too peculiar or provocative, and if there was any limit to the time and travel one could spend on a story, I would like to meet the reporter who found it. Certainly I tried. Most articles began with a simple question and ballooned wildly from there. In this case, I happened to read a news item about a US soldier whose remains were discovered on a construction site in Belgium, and, wondering what might happen to those remains, I suggested we poke around. Two weeks later, I was strapped to the sidewall of a KC-135 transport jet on military travel orders, at the start of a journey that would eventually cross sixty thousand miles and lead to this book. The notion that any part of that journey has been a “job” or “work” seems alien; with editors like Jim, Andy, and now Geoff Kloske at Riverhead, it is quite simply the most fun thing I can imagine doing, every single day. Even when it’s cold, dark, heartbreaking, and involves eating bat soup.
So many people offered time and help that it’s embarrassing to consider them all at once. My thanks go first to the families of the missing, who shared their painful, personal memories, even when my questions must have seemed spectacularly trivial, like the color of the drapes. I am especially grateful for the trust and patience of Tommy and Nancy Doyle; Ted and Bev Goulding; Diane Corrado; the Moore family, including Melba, Leta Boone, Tamara Newsom, and Charles Harvey; Millie Arnett and Carolyn Arnett Rocchio; Gary and Helen Coorssen; Dale and Bob Yoh; Leona Frederick; Arne Schumacher; and Richard Stinson.
Dozens of veterans of the 307th Bombardment Group tried to help me comprehend the war, the islands, the bombers, the bases, and the fragile tenor of the airman’s life in a world that was often unimaginable even to them. I owe a special debt to Al Jose, who flew missions with the Big Stoop boys and vividly described their camp on Wakde and their final, fateful flight. Relatives of the 307th also shared crucial documents and details, including Jay Cosgrove, Dottie McGill, Martha Raysor, Jack Pierce, Cynthia Campora, Eric Vanderpoel, John Rodwick, and the president of the 307th reunion group, Jim Walsh.
Navy deep-sea divers are a special set. To a man, the members of the 2008 recovery mission devoted their personal time to help me understand the operation as it unfolded on the seafloor. Particular thanks to Master Divers Rod Atherton and Totch Mabry; Diving Medical Officer Andy Baldwin; and Warrant Officer Randy Duncan. Hooyah, gentlemen.
The photographer Tim Hetherington also joined the 2008 mission, taking some of the most beautiful images of Palau that I have ever seen, including the cover of this book. What those photos cannot capture is the overwhelming generosity Tim brought to his work, and the instant trust the men had in him. Tim was an extraordinary reporter, and I benefitted enormously from his insights and observations. I did not know him well or long; I wish I had.
The work of Pauline Boss is indispensable to anyone interested in the distinctive character of MIA grief, and Boss herself was an in
valuable guide as I tried to grasp the enduring pain of families and the stories I kept hearing from them.
No American has done more to bring home missing service members than Johnie Webb. Over the past forty years, he has helped to build the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command into one of the world’s great humanitarian missions. With tens of thousands still missing, there is no shortage of work remaining, but all it takes is a connection with one family to appreciate how precious that work is. My thanks to Johnie and everyone at JPAC—George Mitroka, Rich Wills, Byron Johnson, Bill Belcher, Tom Holland, Chris McDermott, James Pokines, Robert Mann, Elias Kontanis, and Denise To—but most especially Eric Emery, without whom this book and its story would not have happened.
The National Archives in College Park, Maryland, contain two billion cubic feet of records. Trying to locate the ten thousand pages relevant to this story would have been impossible without the guidance of Rich Boylan and Katie Rasdorf of NARA and Cashwell LLC, respectively. Their early introduction to the file system and structure of the archive, from the top floor to the underground stacks, informed every visit I made.
Hunter Chaney at the Collings Foundation went far beyond any reasonable request by allowing me to climb into the nose turret of the last working B-24J and fly across open water for a glimpse of the world I was trying to describe. The foundation is a national treasure.
Countless writers nudged, nagged, nurtured, and inspired me throughout this process. Some, like Nathaniel Philbrick and Winston Groom, reminded me through their work that it was possible to write a complex history with story and character at the fore. I’ve tried to do justice to their example. Others, like Michael Paterniti and Philipp Meyer, took precious time from their own deadlines to read an advance copy of this book and offer generous thoughts. The great Mark Bowden materialized unexpectedly one day in my office while I was struggling with a passage to drink a few beers and offer writing wisdom I’ll never forget. My friend Michael Downs gave me a late, careful, and invaluable read. Throughout, my friend and editor at the New York Times Magazine, Joel Lovell, has been a font of patience and good sense. And my friend Andy Ward came through, as ever, in the clutch—offering a secluded idyll to draft the final pages, for which I cannot possibly express enough thanks.
At its core, this is a story about family, and my own has been a wellspring of encouragement and support through months of travel and long nights writing. Jenny, Liam, Sylvie, I love you.
Every member of the BentProp Project contributed time and insight to this book, but Reid Joyce, Flip Colmer, Dan O’Brien, and Jennifer Powers deserve special mention. Reid is the wizard behind the BentProp team archive, which was a constant resource. Flip led me through the jungle and sea on a diet of Spam, Oreos, and relentless good cheer. And Dan and Jennifer directed the touching documentary Last Flight Home about BentProp, sharing countless hours of their outtake footage so that I might witness these events in color. Their nonprofit foundation, BentStar, helps finance BentProp, and anyone interested in supporting this work should visit bentstarproject.org.
Finally, Pat Scannon. Words fail. I first heard the name whispered in the Palau night, and looking back, a whisper seems right. In twenty years of reporting, I have never encountered anyone like Pat, who spent hundreds of hours sharing the details of his story, while insisting at every turn that it wasn’t his story at all, but part of something much larger and deeper that would only become clear to me with time. He was right, and it has. I am donating a portion of the proceeds from this book to support the ongoing search in Palau.
IMAGE CREDITS
Cover: Palau island. Photograph by Tim Hetherington.
Frontispiece: The Big Stoop crew, July 11, 1944 (back: Robert Stinson, Ted Goulding, Jimmie Doyle, Johnny Moore, Leland Price, Earl Yoh, Mario Campora; front: Norman Coorssen, Frank Arhar, Art Schumacher). Courtesy of Tommy and Nancy Doyle.
Maps: Drawn by Aaron Becker.
Prologue: Navy divers in Palau, 2008. Photograph by Christopher Perez, courtesy of JPAC.
Chapter One: Jimmie Doyle, 1943. Courtesy of Tommy and Nancy Doyle.
Chapter Two: Pat Scannon on a Corsair in Palau. Courtesy of Flip Colmer.
Chapter Three: The Big Stoop crew in B-24 training, Tonopah, Nevada, May 1944. Courtesy of Gary Coorssen.
Chapter Four: The Arnett map. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Chapter Five: Tent City, Los Negros Island. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Chapter Six: Jack Arnett, 1943. Courtesy of Carolyn Arnett Rocchio.
Chapter Seven: A POW/MIA flag. Courtesy of the National League of POW/MIA Families.
Chapter Eight: B-24 bombers on a mission over Palau. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Chapter Nine: A BentProp challenge coin. Courtesy of Pat Scannon.
Chapter Ten: Wakde Island. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Chapter Eleven: Kempei-tai commander Aritsune Miyazaki. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Chapter Twelve: Bob Hope on Wakde, August 25, 1944. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Chapter Thirteen: The white spots. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Chapter Fourteen: Johnny Moore’s empty grave. Photograph by Wil Hylton.
Chapter Fifteen: A Navy diver prepares to splash. Photograph by Christopher Perez, courtesy of JPAC.
Chapter Sixteen: Scannon scours a cave for evidence. Courtesy of Katie Rasdorf.
Chapter Seventeen: The burial caisson at Arlington. Courtesy of Flip Colmer.
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