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Update: Body Frozen in Glacier May Be WWII Airman

 
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USAFE5
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Joined: 23 Aug 2004
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Location: Reno Nevada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:18 am    Post subject: Update: Body Frozen in Glacier May Be WWII Airman Reply with quote

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172795,00.html

Quote:
FRESNO, Calif. — Two climbers on a Sierra Nevada (search) glacier discovered an ice-encased body believed to be that of an airman whose plane crashed in 1942.


I hope they are able to confirm his ID and give his family closure.

They have removed the body with several hundred pounds of ice and are slowly defrosting it. So far they say he was a sun bleached blonde with light complexion.
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Last edited by USAFE5 on Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:01 am; edited 1 time in total
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blue9t3
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 3:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good story, but I wonder if the wreckage was found in 47, who was this guy? did he wander off? was he the only one too live? Crying or Very sad
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USAFE5
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was wondering about that too. Did he survive the wreck and then try to hike out? Were any of the others alive when he left? but it said he had a chute so did he bail and the rest couldn't get out?

Lots of "Unsolved Mysteries" in this one.
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Me#1You#10
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 5:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For anyone having Google Earth, here's a placemark...

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=164110
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GM Strong
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy


Joined: 18 Sep 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

World War II Airman Found Frozen in GlacierOctober 18, 2005 - It was a plane crash back in 1942 that wasn't discovered until 1947. Now, hikers made a frozen discovery in connection with a World War II plane crash.

Hikers found the frozen body of an airman while scaling Mount Mendel Glacier in the Kings Canyon National Park. Now, the military is working to find out who this airman is and whether he was ever reported missing.
It's believed the airman has been frozen in the glacier for decades until a pair of climbers got much more than ever imagined on a hike.

Two glacier climbers, 13,000 feet above the national park floor on Mount Mendel, made the incredible discovery.

"They were hiking, ice climbing ... it's a pretty popular ice climbing route in K.C. and what they noticed was the head and shoulder and a part of an arm of a person at the base of the glacier that had melted out over the course of this summer," explained Alexandra Picavet, from the National Park Service.

National Park Service representatives believe the serviceman was likely part of a crew aboard an AT-7 navigational training plane that crashed on November 18, 1942.

"When we got this report, we got the report of a person wearing a parachute with a patch that said U.S. Army Corp. There was no Air Force in 1942 ... that didn't come until 1947, or after World War II," said Picavet.

In 1947, five years after the crash, hikers discovered a portion of the plane, along with four bodies. Recovery crews didn't know there was at least one airmen left behind.

Tuesday afternoon, an archaeologist and two U.S. park police officers went up to survey the area. A team of two will camp nearby to preserve the scene until the body can be recovered.

It's believed most of the plane is still preserved under the glacier above the spot the latest airman was found.

Veterans familiar with common military practices say the serviceman should have some identification on him.

The climbers who found the man said they could not find anything around his neck, but they did cut out a piece of the parachute that 63 years later is still strapped to his back.

The crash is believed to be one of many that happened in the Sierras during the 1940's and 1950's.

The Park Service is working with a number of agencies and is hoping to chisel the ice around the body on Wednesday to get the man out and eventually identified.

They say it's going to be a long, tedious process.


______________________________________________

This apparently the MIA site of a Beech AT-7 Ser # 41-21079 that flew out of Mather AAF, CA piloted by William Gamber. Mather AAF was a Navigation School.
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kate
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

KTVU
Quote:
Body Of WWII Airman Removed From Sierra Glacier
October 19, 2005

FRESNO -- A glacier-encased body believed to be a World War II airman who crashed into the Sierra Nevada in 1942 was flown off the mountain and into a Fresno laboratory for identification, the county's deputy coroner said Thursday.

Blustery conditions kept rangers at Kings Canyon National Park from reaching the frozen remains for two days after two ice climbers reported last weekend they had seen a man's head, shoulder and arm protruding from the thick ice.

About 80 percent of the body was buried in the glacier on the side of the 13,710-foot Mount Mendel. The remote wilderness area can only be reached by hiking two or three days, or by helicopter when the weather allows, rangers said.

Six park rangers and a military forensics expert started chipping away at the ice on Wednesday, freeing the body after about six hours of meticulous work, said ranger Alexandra Picavet.

more.......


a man's head, shoulder and arm protruding from the thick ice.

and, the The National Parks Service released
photos
of this airman's visable remains

maybe I'm too sensitive, I thought it disrespectful way to treat a veteran's remains....and someone's loved one

shot them off a piece of my mind
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GM Strong
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 10:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw the photos and video and thought it showed the care with which the recovery was done. It did not show features of any consequence. There have been instances where photos were not respectful, but personally, I did not feel that nor see that. When the Alps yielded Otzi the stone age man, he was found in the thawing ice and he was on full display and such. Not the case here. I respect your feelings, but disagree. Nonetheless, I think we all feel a sense of satisfaction that this man was found and we will know who he was and he will be given the honors he deserves though 63 years late.
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msindependent
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

it may be cadet ernest munn. his sister was on fox and friends this morning, what a sweetie she was. they showed a picture of him, good looking guy. a google search showed cnn has his picture up. here's a link talking about the guys that where in the plane. let's hope these families get some closure.

http://www.wtov9.com/news/5188559/detail.html
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GM Strong
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 12:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As this glacier moves down the mountain side and melts, the wreckage and the other 3 men may be revealed. How far this icey tomb has moved in 63 years is anyone's guess. Hopefully they will be revealed sooner than later.
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