![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Flag-horizontal2-300x199.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Two stories about searching for missing relatives from World War II:<\/p>\n
It was cloudy in California on Oct. 26, 1944, the day New Jersey resident and\u00a0Women Airforce Service Pilot\u00a0<\/a>Gertrude Tompkins went missing while delivering a\u00a0P-51D Mustang<\/a>\u00a0fighter plane to Newark in the midst of World War II.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tompkins was one of 1,074 women who completed brutal training to join the WASPs, who were attached to the\u00a0U.S. Army Air Forces<\/a>. She and 37 other women died in service to their country, but Tompkins is the only one who remains missing, said Pat Macha, an airplane archaeologist helping with search efforts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For 75 years, the whereabouts of Tompkins and the P-51D she had been flying that day in October have remained a mystery \u2014 one that her grand-niece, Laura Whittall, hopes to solve someday soon. – article<\/p>\n<\/div>\n https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2019\/10\/05\/a-missing-pilot-a-mustang-and-an-enduring-mystery-what-happened-to-this-wasp-aviator\/<\/a><\/p>\n One theory is that because the bay area was fogged in and the Mustang’s canopy did not close properly, Tompkins may have been trying to close it and became disoriented in the fogged-in area, which led to her crash.<\/p>\n The second story takes us to Papua, New Guinea, where the remains of a crashed B-25 Mitchell bomber were found along with those of the co-pilot Maj. Donn Young, but the missing pilot, Bill Benn was not.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/10\/08\/wwii-aviator-who-crashed-in-mountains-of-papua-new-guinea-to-be-buried-with-full-military-honors\/<\/a><\/p>\n A\u00a0WWII<\/a>\u00a0Army Air Corps\u00a0aviator<\/a>\u00a0will be buried at Arlington this week with full military honors \u2014 thanks to the dogged efforts of a Philadelphia businessman who made multiple treks to the jungles of Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The remains of Maj. Donn Young were originally found more than 20 years ago by Fred Hagen, a Philadelphia construction company owner who originally went looking for the remains and aircraft of his great-uncle, Maj. Bill Benn in 1995.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Now, nearly eight decades after his plane went down in Papua New Guinea, Young will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday. – article<\/p>\n During his searches, Fred Hagen has been able to find and confirm the remains of other WWII Army aviators, which have since been interred.<\/p>\n Welcome home, MAJ Young. And may the others be found and accounted for as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n