STILL MISSING
The below article was prepared especially for this website, and is aimed
to give you an idea of the resources we deploy to discover the history behind
MIA sites. This article is controversial, as it describes a site from where
human remains have yet to be recovered. CILHI are working on the case however,
and Aerothentic is the first to acknowledge the difficulties under which they
labor to resove such cases.
This
work is Profile 33 extracted directly from our book FORTY OF THE FIFTH, and
is but one of forty such detailed aircraft biographies contained in this work
672nd Bombardment Squadron/ 417th
Bombardment Group
Forced‑landed northern coast of New Guinea
20th March 1944
The combat
history of this attack bomber is short and relatively undistinguished, but
contains intrigue. The aircraft’s hulk still lies in jungle where it crashed,
and at time of publication the wreck still marked the grave of its pilot.
From Dayton, Ohio
, Raymond Henry
Brock rests in peace under
the wreck, unclaimed by the US military. The aircraft was one of the first
G model Havocs sent to the theatre, but these early models were limited by
poor endurance. It was assigned to the 312th Bombardment Group
which flew it on several missions on New Guinea’s
northern coast in late February/ early March 1944 before it was reassigned
to the 417th BG, just arrived in the theatre and establishing itself
at Dobodura
. Several of the Group’s pilots including Brock were delivered to
Gusap
by C‑47 to bring back
A‑20Gs in flights of three. On 20th March 1944 Brock departed
at approximately 1530 hours along with two other Havocs led by Group Commanding
Officer, Lt‑Col Milton W.
Johnson. Behind Brock as
passengers were 2/Lt Duane G.
Hamilton and Cpl Ralph E
. Greene, the aircraft’s crew‑chief. The flight set direct
course from Gusap
to Dobodura
.
About two miles inland from Cape Ward Hunt, Brock broke away, and
Johnson would report, “Brock had just
dropped back about 100 yards and caught up again in formation when I noticed
him pull up rather sharply to an estimated altitude of 700 feet to 800 feet in
a climbing turn to the right . . . the next time I saw the ship it was
approximately 300 feet high over Sago swamp, apparently in good control
descending in a shallow glide. I saw the ship go into the treetops . . . “
Johnson could
not find the wreckage from the air, but after carefully noting the area of
the crash, returned next morning. Two red flares were fired from the ground,
and Johnson soon found the wreck. On the ground he saw one man waving both
arms and moving about. Johnson loitered in the area and thus helped direct
a land party to the scene of the crash. The two survivors were finally rescued
four days later, but the terrain into which the aircraft had crashed was all
but impassable. As an official report would note, “it
took two healthy paratroopers
four and six hours respectively
to cut their way to the wreck from their landing points, 95-100 yards away.
The nature of the terrain was such that even the natives at first refused
to traverse it.” All searches for Brock’s
body failed. Johnson submitted that he was “thoroughly
convinced” that Brock had been killed in the crash, noting the following:
·
no parachutes were observed;
·
the aircraft was in perfect control
at treetop level indicating that Brock flew it in;
·
the nose section was torn off in
such a manner that it appeared that the aircraft had cart‑wheeled upon
landing.
The war moved on and the mystery and determination of Brock’s
status was left to the US military bureaucracy. In April 1945 the Squadron’s
flight surgeon was asked to submit a final report on the official status of
Brock’s remains. He wrote a detailed report which in essence entertained four
possibilities, quoted directly:
1.
He
jumped (eliminated as the aircraft was flown in under control and no parachute
was seen);
2.
He
crawled away from the wreck (eliminated as a thorough search of the area was
made by two paratroopers dropped into the sight);
3.
He
was thrown a reasonable distance from the wreck (eliminated as subsequent
searches were thorough);
4.
He
was buried in the mud directly under the nose of the aircraft (the only
reasonable possibility).
The report then concluded that “it would have been a ridiculous and futile gesture to send heavy
equipment in to try and drain and clear the swamp in order to search the area.”
This was certainly true at the time, so the war moved on and Brock was
forgotten. The final reports on Brock’s demise were made in 1945 and did not
include statements made by the two survivors, only a few days after the crash,
included here in their entirety:
Ralph E Greene, statement submitted 28th March 1944:
“When the plane crashed I was
knocked unconscious and when I came to I was lying on the ground, about 20
yards from the crash. I was carried from the wrecked plane by Duane C.
Hamilton. Since I had a dislocated leg I could not help in the search for Lt
Brock’s body. However I am certain that he did not bail out of the ship because
I had fastened his safety belt for him before we took off. It is my sincere
belief that Lt Brock was killed in the crash and that his body is buried in the
mud under the nose of the plane as the nose and the pilot cockpit of the plane
was broken off from the fuselage and buried in the mud”.
Statement by Cpl Duane E Greene (crew chief):
“We were flying at tree‑top
level and all of a sudden the RH engine cut off and Lt Brock was able to pull
the ship up 500 feet and then the LH engine went dead. At this point the ship
started to glide in for a crash‑landing and in doing so the wings of the
plane were knocked off by the trees and the plane hit the ground. I was blacked
out for a few seconds and after coming to I crawled out of the ship and in
doing so saw Cpl Greene’s leg hanging out of the side of the ship. I went back
into the ship and pulled Cpl Greene out through the top of the plane. I noticed
that Cpl Greene was hurt badly so I took him to safety and tried to make him as
comfortable as possible. The I went back to the ship to try and find Lt Brock.
I noticed that the nose and pilot cockpit had broken off from the fuselage and
was buried in the mud. I looked for Lt Brock’s body but could not find same so
I returned to Cpl Greene to see how he was getting along. On my next trip back
to the plane I noticed some blood on top of the water about ten feet from the
plane. I went back there and found that the water and mud was about six feet
deep. I thought it might be a possibility that Lt Brock was thrown through the
bottom of the ship into the mud. However, I could not locate his body. After
the searching party reached us another search was made for the body but same
could not be found. It is my sincere belief that Lt Brock was killed in the
crash and that his body is either buried in the mud under the nose of the plane
or in the mud about ten feet from the plane.”
Mr and Mrs Robert & Emma Brock, Brock’s parents,
were notified in 1945 and then again in 1950 that their son’s remains were
deemed “non‑recoverable” and
that the case was closed. However, if you fly over Cape Ward Hunt today, there is a small
village called Tubi, just east of which, between the Mambare and Gira Rivers, lies
#157’s large hulk. In New Guinea’s dry season the sago swamp in which it lies
is dry. Certainly during the 1994 dry season one could walk directly past the
wreck on interconnecting village paths. Locating Brock should be relatively
easy, for he is still there, buried under the nose of the aircraft . . .
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