{"id":101009,"date":"2022-05-18T20:49:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T20:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/05\/18\/thai-archival-find-may-resolve-fate-of-missing-wwii-us-pilot\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:00:02","slug":"thai-archival-find-may-resolve-fate-of-missing-wwii-us-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2022\/05\/18\/thai-archival-find-may-resolve-fate-of-missing-wwii-us-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"Thai archival find may resolve fate of missing WWII US pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U-TAPAO, Thailand \u2014 The remains of an American airman who went missing in action in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2022\/04\/26\/jewish-troops-who-died-in-world-war-ii-finally-receive-star-of-david-headstones\/\" target=\"_blank\">World War II<\/a> may finally be on their way home, thanks to a chance discovery of records in flood-threatened archives in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/02\/12\/thailand-and-us-launch-annual-cobra-gold-military-exercise\/\" target=\"_blank\">Thailand<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. and local authorities held a solemn ceremony Wednesday at an air base in eastern Thailand to honor and repatriate remains recently recovered from a rice field in the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the U-Tapao naval air base on Thailand\u2019s eastern seaboard, military personnel along with Thai and American officials paid their respects. A casket containing the discovered remains was draped in the U.S. flag before being taken to the United States aboard a C-17 transport plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tests at a special laboratory in Hawaii will determine if the remains are human and possibly identify the person. But circumstantial evidence has raised expectation the casket holds a long-lost service member from the U.S. Army Air Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou know, it\u2019s keeping the promise that we never leave a person behind. Anybody\u2019s who\u2019s served in combat in any way, who\u2019s fought alongside somebody, regardless of country or nation, there\u2019s a bond that\u2019s built. We owe it to the families to find those answers, to bring those people home,\u201d said Marine Col. Matt Brannen, who heads up the Indo-Pacific directorate of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/19\/progress-on-recovering-missing-troops-but-still-a-daunting-task-ahead\/\" target=\"_blank\">Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA<\/a>, the U.S. body tasked with finding the war missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/01\/05\/effort-underway-to-identify-unknown-world-war-ii-troops-who-were-buried-in-the-philippines\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6464563.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Effort underway to identify \u2018unknown\u2019 World War II troops who were buried in the Philippines<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency recently conducted an \u201chonorable carry\u201d ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for about 40 sets of unidentified remains.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thailand was officially allied to Japan in World War II and occupied by its military, making it a target for British and U.S. bombers. Inevitably, aircrew from the Allied side were lost in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, just a few American flyers who disappeared over Thailand are still unaccounted for. As time passes, the chances of finding them all but vanish \u2014 unless something extraordinary happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"6000\" height=\"4000\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138227182382.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97029\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138227182382.jpg.jpg 6000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138227182382.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138227182382.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138227182382.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138227182382.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138227182382.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 6000px) 100vw, 6000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Personnel assigned to the Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), talk about The National League of Families POW\/MIA flag to local Thai workers during excavation operations in Lampang Province, Thailand, Feb. 16, 2022. (Sgt. 1st Class Michael O&#8217;Neal\/Army\/Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2011, massive floods that hit the country inundated Thailand\u2019s Air Force Museum in Bangkok. There was concern its archives might be damaged by mold. Retired Thai Air Chief Marshal Sakpinit Promthep, who indulged his passion for Second World War history by working part-time in the archival section, spent months afterward going through its files one by one to check their condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s how he found himself looking at a faded document from a musty, dusty folder. It was a handwritten police officer\u2019s report dated November 1944. It detailed the crash of a U.S. P-38 plane, reported to have been struck by lightning during a storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It sparked a \u201cEureka!\u201d reaction for the history buff who\u2019d heard rumors of a World War II plane crash in Lampang province but had never found any record of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a great moment in life, that we find such a thing just in front of you pop up!\u201d he told The Associated Press. \u201cYou imagine, you look for something, you like to see it and there\u2019s no hope, almost no hope to find it. Just open page, page and then \u2013 whoop! \u2013 in front of your eyes. Wow! This is what I am looking for,\u201d he enthused, smiling broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said that as he held the report in his hands that day, he wondered whether the pilot\u2019s ghost was at his shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe may know that I am looking for him, searching for him for a long time,\u201d said Sakpinit, suggesting that just maybe, the pilot\u2019s spirit put those pages in front of him, in that file. \u201cOtherwise, if there was no flood, the document\u2019s going to be hidden for maybe another year or many, &#8230;. maybe a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/military-honor\/salute-veterans\/2021\/11\/17\/world-war-ii-us-veterans-recall-flying-aid-to-china\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21320348204224.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">World War II US veterans recall flying aid to China<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Flying Tigers were sent by President Franklin Roosevelt before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, drew the United States into the war.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. War Department\u2019s files on missing World War II air crew members includes a pilot who took off from southern China for a reconnaissance mission over Myanmar and northern Thailand and did not return, the location and cause of crash logged as \u201cnot known.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But his P-38 disappeared the same day the same type of plane crashed in Mae Kua village. The U.S. records identify the plane as an F-5E, a P-38 stripped down and modified for reconnaissance duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The AP is withholding the pilot\u2019s name, pending positive identification of the remains and notification of relatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crucially, the police officer\u2019s report in the Thai archive gave a precise location. Still, it took a decade to go from the musty folder Sakpinit held to the actual excavation. An interview with a 100-year-old woman who heard the crash was among the evidence that convinced DPAA investigators the site had merit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In February, a joint U.S.-Thai search team dug in a rice field in Lampang\u2019s Mae Kua village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By April, the team had found a multitude of small metal fragments consistent with a crash as well as \u201cosseous material\u201d \u2014 teeth and bones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re approaching the 80th anniversary of World War II, so being able to get that information so our historians and analysts and researchers can develop those cases, it definitely is a race against time,\u201d the DPAA\u2019s Brannen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the DPAA, of the 72,335 U.S. service personnel still missing from World War II, almost 47,000 disappeared in Asian battle zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Associated Press writer Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The remains of an American airman missing in World War II may be heading home, thanks to a chance discovery of records in flood-threatened archives in 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thai archival find may resolve fate of missing WWII US pilot - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The remains of an American airman missing in World War II may be heading home, thanks to a chance discovery of records in flood-threatened archives in Thailand.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thai archival find may resolve fate of missing WWII US pilot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The remains of an American airman missing in World War II may be heading home, thanks to a chance discovery of records in flood-threatened archives in 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