"... On this second attempt to fly around the world, the Navy reversed Amelia's flight plan. That is why Howland Island became her last stop! She could fly over the forbidden Japanese territory and photograph their bases. Then she could land on Howland Island and the Navy would quickly remove the cameras and the film. But as Amelia flew over the Marshall Islands, she was spotted as an intruder. Also in the area was the Aircraft Carrier AKAGA. (This is one of the aircraft carriers that would attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941). Zero fighter pilots were sent aloft to force the American plane down, one way or another! One pilot stated, "we were not told that the intruder was a world famous American Aviator." The Japanese pilot that shot Amelia down made one fly-by. But Amelia ignored the zero, so on the next pass he fired both machine guns. Amelia swerved downward and crash landed on the beach at Mili Atoll. The Japanese were in no hurry to pick them up, as they were having war games.
No one could enter this area, and the American search party had been warned to stay away. For this reason, Amelia Earhart was able to send out an SOS for four long days, and they were heard as far away as Los Angeles, California!
It is incredible that we did not try to get them out. Fred Noonan had a cut in the middle of his forehead. He also had a badly infected cut on the knee. A sixteen year old native medical corpsman from naval hospital on Jalvit Atoll, tended to Fred's wounds. His name was Bilamon Amare, he said the Japanese called the American woman "Meel-ya, Meel-ya." Bilamon also remembers seeing their airplane with a broken left wing.
Fred Noonan was beheaded in Saipan, just a few days before Amelia Earhart was shot. There are hundreds of reliable people that saw both of them in Saipan. Some are natives who lived there, and some are American servicemen who were there at the time.
Army Sergeant Thomas E. Devine was shown where they both were buried. They were not even buried in a cemetery, but do lie side-by-side. Devine has been trying for all these years to bring the bodies back to the United States for DNA testing. But Saipan officials still refuse to allow them to be exhumed. And the U.S. Government still has everything classified.
It seems a shame that these two lonely graves still remain on foreign soil. It seems that Fred Noonan and Amelia Mary Earhart are two people without a country."
Sources:
With Our Own Eyes - Mike Campbell
Lost Star - Randall Brink
Missing Believed Killed - Roy Conyers Nesbit
The Fun Of It - Amelia Mary Earhart
