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Posted on 12/01/2008 11:49:49 AM PST by Stonewall Jackson
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is Ensign Robert G. Tills, U.S. Navy, of Manitowoc, Wis. He will be buried on March 23, 2009 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
Representatives from the Navy’s Mortuary Office met with Tills’ next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Navy.
On Dec. 8, 1941, two PBY-4 Catalina Flying Boats moored in Malalag Bay, in eastern Mindanao, Philippine Commonwealth, were strafed and sunk by Japanese aircraft. All of the crew on board the PBYs escaped the aircraft with the exception of Tills, who was seen by another crewman to have been hit and killed by machine gun bullets. Tills was the first Navy officer to be lost in defense of the Philippine Islands. His body was not recovered.
In October 2007, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) was notified by U.S. authorities in the Philippines that aircraft wreckage had been discovered in Malalag Bay. A fragment of the wreckage bore the markings “PBY-4.”
In November 2007, a JPAC team, along with the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group-Philippines and the Philippines Coast Guard (PCG), surveyed the site and recovered human remains and non-biological evidence. Later that month, the PCG recovered additional remains from the site.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of Tills’ remains.
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I am just amazed there were remains in water that warm!!
It really is heart warming to know there are a large number of Americans that do not forget all our fallen in battle. There are few days my mind does not dwell at least for a few minutes on our military in their long histories of accomplishments and often heroic sacrifices since our birth as a nation.
Mrs.Liberty, daughter of LT Alfred Mapa, WWII Naval Aviator
I recall reading a story of a PBY landing IN Tokyo harbor to pick up a downed pilot. Shore batteries tried like crazy to hit them but missed. It was always said that the PBY pilots would fly into the mouth of the devil to rescue a pilot. I believe it.
Truly the greatest generation.
Welcome home Ensign!
Everything’s already been said, so there’s nothing left to say but “me too.”
But I want to say it anyway.
Now he can.
That's a beautiful tribute, Kathy.
I have been humbled by this story and the posts on this site and it brought me to tears to think of this fine american and his sacrifice to our grateful nation. Someone posted that this gentleman was from the greatest generation and that is something I truly believe. I wish I could have lived in this time of our country where values and morals were championed instead of ridiculed. I cannot thank this soldier or any soldier enough for what they do on a daily basis for we americans. I cannot honestly say that I am always worth dying for as stated in the poem posted, but I will sure as hell try harder now!
I am so happy this soldier can be laid to rest and is finally home where he belongs. May God bless him and his family. USA is the greatest nation on earth!
My father was a PBY pilot and stationed in the Phillipines for a period of time...among many other places as PBY’s were very verstile in that they didn’t need a runway. He told me many stories, but not this very sad one. My heart goes out. My father, at 88 years, passed away two years ago this past July and now resides at Arlington (and for the grace of God his sole in heaven) having fought in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.
BTW, my mother was a Wave...and now at the age of 88 can still fit into her uniform. She’s very proud of that...
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