The Remains Of A World War II Bomber Pilot Who Crashed 80 Years Ago Were Found In The Water Off Papua New Guinea
More than 80 years later, the remains of bomber pilot Herbert G. Tennyson have finally been officially identified and accounted for, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
Tennyson was a 24-year-old first lieutenant in the United States Army from Wichita, Kansas. He was killed during World War II after his aircraft crashed into the water off Papua New Guinea. At the time, searchers could not find the plane’s wreckage or any survivors.
On March 11, 1944, Tennyson and his fellow crew members were flying a B-24D nicknamed “Heaven Can Wait” near Awar Point in Hansa Bay, which is located along the northern coast of Papua New Guinea.
The plane’s bomb bay burst into flames as they approached Awar Point. The blaze ended up spreading to the tail section.
“Observers saw one crew member bail out of the plane, but he appeared to be wearing no parachute, and two others were seen to bail out wearing parachutes that did not deploy,” stated the DPAA.
“The plane banked left and dove into the water off of Awar Point.”
It is unclear exactly how the aircraft caught fire, but the agency thinks that Japanese troops attacked the plane, setting off one of the weapons onboard.
Attempts to look for the wreckage and survivors were unsuccessful. All 11 crew members, including Tennyson, were presumed dead.
The American Graves Registration Service returned to Hansa Bay to search for Tennyson and the crew after the war. But in late 1948, they stopped their search efforts.
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Then, in 2013, relatives of Thomas V. Kelly Jr., the plane’s bombardier, started doing some research. They reached out to Project Recover, a nonprofit that searches for, recovers, and repatriates the remains of missing American service members.
The leaders of the organization had already been planning to search for wreckage around Papua New Guinea, but they decided to prioritize Hansa Bay once they were provided with the research from Kelly’s relatives.
For nearly two weeks, volunteers combed the seafloor with the help of underwater robots and sonar scans.
In 2018, they found “Heaven Can Wait” near Awar Point, submerged 213 feet beneath the surface. The next year, the DPAA sent a team of divers to survey the site and remove any unexploded weapons.
Four years later, experts were able to excavate the wreckage and recover artifacts, identification tags, life support equipment, and possible human remains.
The items were sent to the DPAA’s laboratory for further examination. Scientists used dental and mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify Tennyson’s remains.
Tennyson will be buried in his hometown of Wichita, and a rosette will be added to his name on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
The DPAA has accounted for at least three other men from the “Heaven Can Wait” crew: Eugene J. Darrigan, a staff sergeant and the plane’s radio operator; Donald W. Sheppick, a second lieutenant and the plane’s navigator; and Kelly, the bombardier. The rest of the crew are still missing.
You can read more information on Lt. Herbert G. Tennyson here.
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