60 Years in the Jungle
A U.S. Army Air Force pilot killed in a training crash in the jungles of New Guinea has come home for burial nearly 64 years after his death.
2nd Lt. Arthur F. Eastman, of East Orange, N.J., will be buried in September in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. On Aug. 18, 1944, Eastman departed the airdrome at Finschhafen, New Guinea, on a test flight of his F-5E-2 aircraft—a twin-engined photo-reconnassaince version of the Lockheed P-38 fighter. Lt. Eastman never returned and searches failed to locate him or his aircraft.
In 2003, Department of Defense officials found documents in the Australian National Archives about an earlier site visit believed to be associated with an F-5E crash. According to the archives, an Australian official had visited the crash site in 1950 in Morobe province near Koilil Village, but there was no subsequent recovery.
In 2004, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) investigated the crash site in the mountains of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The team found aircraft wreckage and recommended the site be excavated.
In February-March 2007, a team excavated the crash site and recovered human remains, pilot-related items and other personal effects, including Eastman’s military identification tag. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.
Posted by Bryan McKenzie at 02:19 PM. Filed under: Tids and Bits •
