WFI Research Group

Found his wrecked Hellcat in 1991 on Oahu. Told CILHI (now JPAC). 16 years later they decided to go get his body and send him home. Sad part is the wreck was less than three miles from there headquarters at Hickam AFB. If it was for the reporter below, I think he would still be on the hillside.

Team excavates remains of pilot lost in 1944

July 25, 2006

After 62 years, Gary-native Harry Warnke may finally get a proper burial.

Warnke’s body has been left with the wreckage of the F6F-3 Hellcat he was piloting on June 15, 1944, when it crashed in the Koolau Range on Hawaii’s Oahu Island.

But 15 years after the crash site was found, excavation to recover his remains began just last week.

Recovering Warnke’s remains has been a continuing saga for 86-year-old Myrtle Tice, who wants to see her brother laid to rest before she dies. Tice, who now lives in a retirement community in Green Valley, Ariz., is Warnke’s only immediate family member still living.

Both of Warnke’s parents died believing their only son was lost at sea.

The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, also known as JPAC, is responsible for finding and identifying the remains of U.S. service men and women. Historians close to the case say JPAC has dragged its feet far too long and Warnke’s body could have been recovered years ago had it not been for politics.

When Ted Darcy, a retired Marine and World War II historian, first found Warnke’s wreckage 15 years ago, he immediately notified JPAC. He said JPAC has devoted more resources to recovering Vietnam remains because that’s where the political pressure has been.

But JPAC officials maintain the delay was due to a complicated recovery effort.

Since the crash site lies within a natural preserve watershed area, the agency had to develop a low-impact plan for excavation, and get special permission.

The agency also required the help of the Hawaiian National Guard which is providing helicopters for the recovery.

The recovery process is scheduled Aug. 24, but it’s hard to tell how long the identification process might take.

“It depends on what we find,” said Maj. Brian Desantis, a JPAC spokesman.

In a process called “sling-loading,” dirt from the site will be airlifted by helicopter from the crash site to a location near Wheeler Army Airfield, about a 10-minute flight away.

There, the dirt will be sifted through screens in search of any evidence or body tissue.

“We’re not expecting to find an in-tact skeleton, but we are expecting some biological matter,” Desantis said.

Warnke’s parents placed a memorial stone at their family plot at the Westville Cemetery soon after he went missing. Tice plans to bury his remains there, whenever they are returned to her.