[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E184-E185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO SGT. HERMAN SMITH: WE WILL NEVER FORGET
______
HON. HAROLD ROGERS
of kentucky
in the house of representatives
Thursday, February 12, 1998
Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, on February 20, 1998, Sgt. Herman Smith of
Williamsburg, Kentucky, and nine other World War II crewmen of the B-
24H ``Liberator,'' serial number 42-95064, will be buried with full
military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
This ceremony is a long-overdue recognition of the honor, bravery and
devotion displayed by ten World War II servicemen who lost their lives
nearly 54 years ago when their plane crashed in northeastern Brazil on
April 11, 1944.
At 9:05 a.m. on that fateful day, 42-95064's pilot requested weather
information. That was the last word from 42-95064 and her crew.
Today, no one quite knows where the crew of 42-95064 was heading,
what their mission was, or why the plane went down. For 51 years, no
one even knew where the plane and her crew were. Sgt. Herman Smith's
mother passed on without ever knowing what happened to her boy. Like
thousands of other mothers, fathers, wives, sons and daughters whose
loved ones were listed as missing in action, Mrs. Smith lived her life
with an empty place in her heart, never knowing the fate of her son.
Although Herman Smith and thousands of other American servicemen have
been listed as missing, they have never been forgotten. Over the years,
we have continued efforts to discover the fate of American service
members lost during times of war. And, with the help of the Army
Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, hundreds of missing
servicemen have been identified, providing their families with peace of
mind and final resolution.
That is the story of the long-lost crew of 42-95064. During the
1990s, reports started coming back of plane wreckage in an uninhabited,
isolated area of the Amazon jungle. After a 1994 search party failed to
find the site, officials finally confirmed the plane's location. On
Independence Day 1995, a 15-man team from the U.S. Army Central
Identification Laboratory arrived in Brazil to begin the arduous
process of bringing our boys back home.
Next week, the 10 crew members of 42-95064 will be placed in their
resting place after 54 long years. Phyllis Bowling of Williamsburg, a
first cousin of Sgt. Herman Smith and his closest living relative, will
attend the service. For the people of Williamsburg, Kentucky, this
service means that one more man, whose name has been forever captured
on the VFW Post 3167's memorial commemorating those killed from Whitley
County during the Great War, will finally receive the military honors
he deserves.
Every day, men and women from counties all across our nation
volunteer, like Herman Smith did, for one of the most important jobs
America has to offer--military service in the United States Armed
Forces. These men and women have so much faith, honor, love and respect
for this nation that they are prepared to sacrifice their lives in
order to preserve and protect the United States and all that she stands
for.
In turn, we must remain committed to them. We must support our
service personnel in times of war and times of peace. We must help
their loved ones cope with the demands and stress placed upon them as
military families. We must honor them after they return from service,
and if they don't return, we must be dogged in our pursuit to bring
them home. But, most important, we must never forget the sacrifices
they have made.
We should remember, because every man and woman who has served in
this nation's armed forces has helped secure the peace that we enjoy
today. In times of peace and war, American's military personnel have
been a beacon of hope in the darkness of conflict. They answered the
call of service, prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of
duty. The next generation must know about the courage, honor and
strength of the men and women who gave their lives for us. Our service
members must know that we will never forget.
Mr. Speaker, so everyone will remember the story of the men on B-24H
``Liberator,'' serial number 42-95064, I ask that a newspaper article
appearing in the Whitley Republican-News Journal in Williamsburg,
Kentucky, be printed here, for everyone to read.
May God bless all the men and women who serve in America's Armed
Forces, and may God bless the United States of America.
[From the News Journal--February 4, 1998]
Local Man Was Ball Turret Gunner on Long-Lost WWII B-24H Bomber
Somewhere in some foreign field, The gunner sleeps tonight .
. .
But we cannot write off his final scene--Hold onto the dream
. . .
``The Gunner's Dream,'' Pink Floyd, 1982
(By Philip A. Todd)
Like thousands of his fellow World War II servicemen, a
Williamsburg man listed as missing in action (MIA) for over a
half century will never come home.
However, after making the ultimate sacrifice for their
country, Sgt. Herman Smith and the nine other crewmen on his
B-24H bomber will finally receive the remembrance they earned
with their lives.
The remains of the ten Army Air Corps aviators, who died on
April 11, 1944 when their plane crashed in northeastern
Brazil, will be buried Feb. 20 with full military honors in
Arlington National Cemetery, official sources said.
Sadly, this recognition comes much too late for most of
those who waited in vain for news of their loved ones--while
for 51 years, the bomber's crash site remained lost, hidden
in a dense and uninhabited region of the Amazon jungle.
Smith's mother, Martha E. Smith of Cumberland Ave.,
Williamsburg, apparently died years ago; and now, no one at
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3167 seems to remember him.
His name appears on the VFW's memorial outside the
courthouse, along with the other Whitley County men listed
and killed during the Great War. Other than that, there has
been nothing but silence surrounding Smith, the plane's ball
turret gunner, and his crewmates for nearly 54 years.
Do you read me, 42-95064?
As the Allied war effort in Europe escalated towards the
``longest day''--the actual invasion of Hitler's ``Fortress
Europe'' on D-Day, June 6, 1944--America and her allies
mounted heavy bombing raids throughout Axis-held Europe,
North Africa and Italy.
Daily aircraft losses reaching 50 percent in some raids
meant new, replacement planes moved in a steady stream from
American factories to the front.
Secrecy concerns kept security so tight that even the very
crews flying these replacement aircraft didn't know where
they were going; and after a half-century, memories have
dimmed and files have disappeared--so no one may ever know
the complete story of Smith and the men on B-24H
``Liberator,'' serial no. 42-95064.
Exact details remain a mystery; however, Smith's aircraft
was apparently headed for duty in Europe by way of a series
of refueling stops leading from the U.S. to Africa by way of
South America when it crashed in the Brazilian jungle.
This ferry route enabled new planes to replace lost combat
aircraft in a matter of a few days, instead of the weeks it
would take to ship them across the Atlantic Ocean.
After probably flying from Colorado Springs to Florida and
then south to Trinidad, Smith's B-24H reportedly left
Trinidad's Waller Field at 6:09 a.m. April 11, 1944, enroute
to Belem, Brazil.
Around 9:05, about an hour from Belem, 42-95064's pilot,
2nd Lt. Edward J. Bares, reportedly requested weather
information.
A ground station in Brazil responded with a report, but
heard nothing further from the plane.
Nothing further was ever to be heard from 42-95064.
Lost but not forgotten
``We were on the same route, departing probably the 16th of
April,'' remembers R.F. ``Dick'' Gelvin, a B-24 navigator
whose aircraft took the same route to the front only days
later.
``I don't remember them telling us about having lost an
airplane in the previous week.''
``I do recall them telling we navigators, we would have
enough fuel that we could follow the (South American) coast
if we wanted to do so, but that over the (Brazilian) jungle
would be closer,'' he said.
``After a crew discussion, we opted to take the `great
circle' (globe-line) route, over the jungle.''
Apparently 42-95064's navigator, 1st Lt. Floyd D. Kyte Jr.,
took the same shortcut to Belem, but the plane crashed some
250 miles short of that Brazilian port city.
Authorities have never issued an official explanation for
the crash.
The aircraft remained lost until the 1990s, when a group of
gold prospectors reportedly stumbled across it.
A joint expedition by the Forca Aerea Brasileira (FAB,
Brazil's air force), and the U.S. Army located the crash site
and recovered the crew's remains in July 1995.
``They told me that the place was 150 miles off course,''
said James K. Leitch, whose brother, Staff Sgt. John E.
Leitch, was 42-95064's flight engineer.
James Leitch, also a World War II veteran, said he
contacted government officials in 1995 after reading a short
news report that the plane had been found.
``They don't know why it went down, but it could have run
out of gas.''
``They feel that the whole crew was killed on impact,'' he
said.
A half-century's silence
When 42-95064 and its crew of 10 went down in April 1944,
James Leitch was a 19-year-old infantry-man waiting to be
shipped to duty in the Pacific.
His company commander called him to the office and told him
he needed to go home to Los Angeles.
There, his parents told him his brother was reported
missing in action somewhere in the Brazilian jungle.
About a month later, A Brazilian native reportedly told
officials he had seen the wreckage of a four-engine plane and
six bodies, but the man disappeared before anyone
[[Page E185]]
could verify his story, said Peter Muello, an Associated
Press writer in 1995.
Shortly after that initial report, a British man told
authorities he had found the plane, and even reported the
aircraft's correct identification number, said Muello.
The Leitch family never heard about either of these
sightings.
A letter to Leitch's parents from a Brazilian official,
dated July 14, 1944, said American authorities were searching
``where the plane is supposed to have made a forced
landing.''
Five years later, Leitch's mother contacted a U.S. vice-
consul in Belem, who told her that tribes in the area were
friendly, and if anything had been found, they would have
contacted the Brazilian authorities.
During that same time year (1949), the Los Angeles Times
reported that the U.S. Adjutant General's Office issued the
statement that ``no evidence has been submitted that any of
the crew parachuted to the safety, nor has any indication
been received that the men were found by natives.''
``Any that was all we heard,'' said Leitch.
``My mother went to her grave believing her John was still
alive, somewhere in the jungle,'' he said.
After these reports, no official statements about 42-95064
were made until 1995, when Brazilian army authorities said
their 3rd Jungle Infantry Battalion discovered the wreckage
in August 1994 and brought back ``a leather artifact'' that
one official said was probably part of a crewmember's flight
jacket.
But in December 1994, a joint search party mounted by
Brazil's air force and the U.S. Embassy to Brazil failed to
find the site.
Finally, officials confirmed the site; and on Independence
Day, 1995, a 15-man salvage team from the U.S. Army Central
Identification Laboratory arrived in Brazil to join a
Brazilian army expedition to travel to the site and recover
anything that was left.
``Bring The Boys Back Home''
When millions of Americans sang along with war-era stars
like Vera Lynn and Glenn Miller, hoping that ``We Will Meet
Again'' and praying to ``Bring The Boys Back Home,'' few
would dream their government and their tax dollars would
still be busy trying to do exactly that, more than 50 years
later.
Thanks to the ongoing mission of the Army Central
Identification Laboratory in Hawaii (CILHI), many missing
servicemen--especially from Vietnam--have been positively
identified from even the smallest of remains, after a process
involving long hours of scientific analysis.
Apparently, that's where 42-95064's crew has been since the
summer of 1995, while U.S. Army officials attempted to track
down next-of-kin for each man.
An FAB (Brazilian air force) team prepared the site, and
assisted the CILHI researchers during a three-week recovery
effort in a dense jungle area some 50 miles northeast of the
Amazon River city of Macapa, located about 250 miles
northwest of the plane's destination, Belem.
Searchers found two sets of ``dog tags'' and numerous bone
fragments at the site, said Johnie Webb, a CILHI civilian
deputy commander.
``It is, very dense jungle,'' he said, adding that ``all 10
(crewmen) perished in the aircraft.''
Two weeks of digging at the crash site brought nothing,
Leitch said officials told him.
``They had dug several meters deep and were starting to
lose hope, when suddenly, they started finding bones, rings,
necklaces and dog tags with names and ranks written on
them,'' said Fernando Allegretti, a spokesman for the
Brazilian state of Amapa, where the plane crashed.
One investigator found a wallet, and another found several
1944 dollar bills, he said.
The high-speed impact of the crash meant little was left of
the aircraft, and most of it--spread over a wide area and
undisturbed for 51 years--will never be recovered, officials
said.
After three weeks, the team recovered the remains of all 10
on board.
Officials then held a memorial service for the crew at
Macapa, capital city of Amapa.
A short time later, CILHI forensics experts confirmed the
remains were, indeed, those of the long-lost crew of 42-
95064.
Give them peace
After more than two-and-a-half years of attempting to find
surviving relatives of the crew, the U.S. Army has apparently
decided against returning the remains to the families.
``I made call after call'' to the authorities, said Leitch
after hearing of the plane's discovery in 1995.
``I was told they were going to use a DNA process to
identify each man,'' he said.
``We wanted him (John) buried out here in Los Angeles, with
my parents.''
Leitch said the family has kept a burial plot for John all
these years.
However, last month's announcement of plans for the Feb. 20
group burial in Arlington put an end to each family's own
hopes for closure.
Army officials apparently identified Peggy Bowling, a
Williamsburg woman who is Smith's first cousin, as Smith's
closest living relative.
Bowling and another Whitley County resident are expected to
attend the Feb. 20 ceremony.
Leitch said the government is arranging to fly family
members to Washington for the event.
The 42-95064's crew included:
2nd Lt. Edward I. Bares, pilot, Chicago; Flight Officer
Robert W. Pearman, co-pilot, Miami; Flight Officer Laurel
Stevens, bombardier, Monroe, Iowa; 1st Lt. Floyd D. Kyte Jr.,
navigator, Elmira, N.Y.; Sgt. John Rocasey, nose gunner, El
Monte, Cal.; Staff Sgt. John E. Leitch, engineer, Los
Angeles; Sgt. Michael Prasol, tail gunner, Northampton,
Mass.; Sgt. Herman Smith, ball turret gunner, Williamsburg,
Ky,; Sgt. Max C. McGilvrey, upper gunner, Perkins, Okla,; and
Staff Sgt. Harry N. Furman, unknown replacement, Dayton
Plains, Mich.
Furman, not part of the plane's original crew, replaced the
crew's radio operator. Staff Sgt. Abe Shepherd of Ohio, on
the fateful flight
``It is likely that the ground crew chief may well have
replaced one of the gunners, who would have gone by sea,''
said Kevin Welch, a B-24 veteran.
``Occasionally, some positions were manned by non-crew
members,'' said John Jakab, another B-24 veteran.
For example, he said, ``my co-pilot crossed over by ship.
My co-pilot for the overseas flight was our unit operations
officer.''
Shepherd's fate is not known--and, after all these years,
there aren't that many people still around who remember the
lost crew of 42-95064.
But some will never forget them.
``I have mixed feelings'' about the upcoming ceremony, said
Leitch.
The Leitch brothers, born 17 months apart, ``used to double
date'' in their young days in southern California, he said.
``I'm happy that it's coming to a close, but I really miss
him. It still bothers me.''
____________________