[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 7] [Senate] [Pages 9319-9320] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]IN MEMORY OF LT. WILFRID ``BILL'' DESILETS Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to Lt. Wilfrid Desilets, a U.S. Army Air Corps P-47 pilot from Worcester, Massachusetts who was lost over New Guinea on August 18, 1943. His remains were recently located and identified, and I was privileged and deeply honored to assist his family--including one of his sisters, Therese Auger of Portsmouth, New Hampshire--with efforts to bring this case to resolution. I was also proud to attend the military funeral for Lt. Desilets this past weekend and to present the Flag of the United States to the surviving family members. Lt. Desilets was an American hero and a patriot who loved his country, loved his family, and loved to fly. He made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom during the Second World War, and I am pleased to have this opportunity to recognize his unselfish service to his country. But no words of mine can match the moving eulogy delivered by Therese's husband, Lt. Col. Elvin C. Auger, USAF-ret. Mr. President, I therefore ask that a copy of the eulogy, as delivered by Colonel Auger, appear in the Record. The eulogy is as follows: Flight Officer Wilfrid Desilets: Eulogy by Lt. Col. Ret. Elvin C. Auger, May 8, 1999 I would like to welcome all of you here today, a day this family has waited so long for. I want to begin by thanking you, Senator Smith, for all the assistance you have given this family. Senator Bob Smith is from New Hampshire. He's my Senator. We thank you for being here today. I have written this eulogy with the hope that all of you but especially our sons, daughters, and now our grand- children will get to know the Bill that we knew. I would like to start by saying that I did know Bill and his family before he left for the service and I am proud to say that I have been a member of this family for 55 years. Now Bill grew up in this family with both loving and caring parents. He was the only boy with 7 sisters. To put it mildly these 7 sisters simply adored him, or as my wife would say today, ``Bill was simply the best''. Bill was a very handsome young man, very religious, started many a day in the service by going to early Mass. He was a good athlete, loved sports and played most all of them. Now I'm not sure where Bill was on that Sunday, Pearl Harbor Day, but I can tell you for sure where he was very early the next morning. He, with a very good buddy called Kip would be at the Army Recruiting Office to volunteer and serve. Both men knew exactly what they wanted. Bill had to be a pilot and Kip wanted to be a gunner. Hopefully that day they thought Bill's gunner. Incidentally that young man Kip was not only Bills good buddy, he was my big brother. Now Bill was so good at writing letters home that to read them today is like reading a diary of his military career. In fact the first days in the service when he was issued his uniforms he would write, today I am a soldier. Now Bill was off to basic training and as he completed it he would be devastated for the Army was sending him to radio operator school not pilot training. Though you know his heart was broken he would write, at least I'll be flying on a crew. Bill did go and complete radio school but then someone somewhere would decide that this young man should be given a chance for pilot training. Now you can imagine how high the morale would be and how his letters home would sound. Now Bill was off for the pilot training program, preflight primary flying school, basic flying school, and then advance. Now advance being the final phase would terminate with Bill's graduation. We were all so proud of Bill for he was going to be an Army Air Corps pilot. Two of Bill's very pretty younger sisters would go to Florida to be with him. They would be there the night before graduation to attend the squadron dance with Bill and his buddies and be there the following day with him for the ceremonies to pin the bars and coveted silver wings on Bill. I know for sure how very proud Bill felt that day, not only for completing his pilot traing but also for having those two sisters there with him. I know for sure how he felt for in a couple of years later one of those sisters would be my wife and be there with me at my graduation to pin my wings on. Now Bill must have finished high in his class for his first assignment would be to the 342 Fighter Squadron. Here he would be flying the P47 Thunderbolt. At that time it was one of our most modern and powerful fighter aircraft we had. Now what was even nicer, Bill would do his transition flying at the old Bedford Airport just 50 miles from home. This would be the happiest time for Bill and his family for when Bill had a little time off we could drive down and bring him home for visits. He was also close enough that on some of his local flights he might do just a little buzzing. What a thrill it was for me to [[Page 9320]] see Bill and his fighter come screaming in low and pull up and away. At that time I would soon be old enough to join and I made up my mind that I had to be a pilot like Bill. It was a also at this time that Bill would marry his sweetheart Ann. Two short days after the wedding Bill and his squadron would have their orders and be on their way overseas. At the time it seemed like the cruelest, harshest thing that could happen. And it was, but now when I think back I would like to believe that at least Bill had some days of great happiness and he left knowing that his bride Ann would be here waiting for him to come home. How these had to be wonderful thoughts and memories for Bill to take with him. Now during the war the boys could not tell us where they were stationed overseas but Bill did write he had seen his first Kangaroo. Years later reading a book on Australian airfields during the war I would read where Bill and his squadron with their aircraft would come to Australia by ships. Here the aircraft would be offloaded, reassembled, test flown and on to New Guinea. Now in New Guinea in about one month Bill would fly his last mission. It was a big one. 16 of those fighters were in that formation. They were flying a protective cover for some air transports. That flight would enter into a box canyon where the mountains went up to 10 and 12 thousand feet. The weather deteriorated so badly that the flight could not turn and exit that canyon. The pilots all had to break their formation and climb blindly up through the clouds. Bill never came up. In the days that followed, his good buddy then Capt. Roddy would fly search missions over that area but the jungle was not ready to give up its secret. Now I was with the family that Sunday evening when the notice of a telegram came. You can imagine the thoughts, the fear, and the prayers that went through that family that long night for a war time telegram was most always bad news. Very early the next morning I drove Bill's dad to get that telegram. I will never forget the look on his face and what he said as he came back to the car. He said, ``It's Bill, it's Bill, he is missing in action. This will kill my wife.'' We had to take this news back home. I can still see Mom and all the sisters on the back porch as we drove in the yard. I guess they knew by his face that it was bad news. All that poor man could do was to keep trying to tell them that Bill was not dead, Bill was not dead, Bill was missing in action. Two years later the second telegram came. Bill was presumed dead. In the years that followed we lost Dad, Mom, and a sister, Jean. I can assure you that their thoughts, their hopes and their prayers were that someday Bill would be coming home. Many, many years later while reading a book of the air wars in New Guinea, I would read in this book that Flight Officer Wilfrid Desilets was lost in the jungles of New Guinea forever. That's the way it remained for 53 long years. Then into our lives came the most amazing young man that I have ever had the opportunity to meet and call a friend. He is a successful businessman, a great writer, a fellow pilot but most of all he was an adventurer and a man with a quest. This man's quest was to find an aircraft that a great uncle had been lost in during this war. The uncle's body had been recovered some 14 years later. This man knows well what a family goes through. On his second trip to New Guinea high up in the mountains and deep in the jungle, he, with the natives, would find Bill and his aircraft. Now he notified the proper authorities and he knew that they could take years to make a recovery identification, and then notify a family. And he so rightfully thought that if Bill still had a family that they would be aging and should know. So upon his return he learned that Bill was probably from the Worcester area so he, with his secretary Arlean, started a massive telephone search for the surname Desilets. They were finally successful and notified Yvette, one of the sisters. Now when we first heard what this stranger said he had done it was unbelievable, but we learned he had done it. Now as all of you might well expect there are not adequate words to express the feelings that this family has for this man, the gratitude, the great respect, yes the love we feel for this man. so for today I am simply going to say thank you. Yes, thank you Fred Hagen, for without you we would never have had our day today. I guess Fred it is your day too for I have the feeling that you have adopted this family and I know we have adopted you. We have met and made such wonderful new friends during this time. We have with us Colonel Roddy and a Colonel Benz, two men, fighter pilots who were in that flight with Bill on his last mission. You can imagine the honor it was for me to meet these men and talk and learn of Bill's last mission. We were recently invited to Bill's fighter squadron reunion. We went there as guests and came home honored members. We heard such wonderful stories and memories of Bill. One I would like to share with you today. It is from a letter that a Sergeant Iddings had written to Colonel Roddy when he learned Bill had been found. In his letter he expressed the great sorrow that the maintenance and ground support boys felt when Bill was missing. He also said that in his mind Bill's tombstone should be engraved with a blue ribbon and on it, it should say that Bill was a blue ribbon gentleman and a blue ribbon pilot. How I wish the Sergeant was with us today that we may thank him but he to passed away last year. To you sisters if I may. We have lived with this tragedy most all of our lives. Now that we have what some may call closure I would hope that when you think of Bill or look at his pictures maybe your hearts may be just a little lighter and remember too Bill will always remain that handsome young man. He will never grow old as we have. I know too that each of you have your own special memories of growing up with Bill. Cherish them for they are yours forever. I, for one, will always honor Bill for he was the type of young man who, as his country was going to war, would be among the first to volunteer and serve. Bill was my hero for as a young man watching him fly his fighter made me want to be a pilot like him. Now if we had to lose Bill during this war, then I am grateful that it would be while Bill was fulfilling his greatest dream, for Bill was a fighter pilot. Today from here, Bill will be taken to rest with his Mom and Dad. Bill is no longer lost in that jungle. Bill is now home, home with his family truly forever. ____________________