N.C. man's remains buried after 57 years (missing WW2 soldier)

Durham Herald-Sun (Durham, NC) ^ | January 8, 2003 | The Associated Press

[Constitution Day]

N.C. man's remains buried after 57 years

The Associated Press
January 8, 2003   8:01 pm

DENTON, N.C. -- For 57 years, the gravestone of Lt. Fred Smith sat over an empty grave. His remains were finally lowered into the ground with full military honors Wednesday.

"This is really a thanksgiving day," said Smith's widow, 84-year-old Dee MacDonald of Rutherfordton. "We are thankful to finally know what happened to him and we are thankful to finally have him home."

On Sept. 7, 1945, five days after the Japanese formally surrendered to end World War II, Smith and seven other men took off from a New Guinea airstrip in a B-25 Mitchell bound for the Philippines. They never made it.

The U.S. Army Air Corps assumed that the twin-engine bomber was lost at sea, and Smith was officially declared dead Feb. 13, 1946, on what would have been his 30th birthday.

That was the last Smith's family had heard about him until two years ago, when his little sister got a message on her answering machine from Pentagon officials.

"They said they found Fred," said Jettie Smith, 84, of Handy. "It was a shock."

In 1995, a helicopter from an Indonesian mining company was surveying a remote mountain in New Guinea, where the rugged volcanic peaks rise as high as 16,000 feet. The pilot spotted the tail of a plane in the jungle, a white star and number on its fuselage.

The U.S. Defense Department's Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office was notified about the wreckage and a recovery team was sent to the site in February 1999. The bodies of all eight crewmen were recovered, along with such personal effects as clothing, dog tags and wedding bands. It's still not known what caused the plane to crash.

After the families were notified, blood samples were collected from living relatives to make positive identifications using DNA.

Smith's body was returned to his family Monday.

About 100 people packed the tiny sanctuary at Lineberry United Methodist Church on Wednesday.

Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division carried the flag-draped coffin to a neighboring cemetery. There, they folded the flag and presented it to Jettie Smith. An honor guard fired a 21-gun salute and a bugler played taps.

A 1933 graduate of Denton High School, Fred Smith earned a degree in vocational agriculture from N.C. State University in 1938. He taught for three years at Courtney High School in Yadkinville and for two years at Guilford High School near Greensboro.

Former students remembered Smith as a strict teacher who knew how to be fair.

"We all looked up to him," said Francis Essic, 77. "He was a good man."

Jettie Smith said she was grateful to finally have a funeral for her brother.

"It gives us closure," she said. "For years we wondered where he was and tried to hold out hope. We figured he was dead, but without a body we didn't know for sure. I thank God I've lived to see this day."

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[Fred Mertz]

Excellent post.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

So many untold stories of heroism from WW II.

[Slip18]

Fabulous post, CD. Thank you.

There is one thing I don't get, though. If the helicopter was spotted in 1995, why did it take until 1999 to recover it? I'm just curious.

[Constitution Day]

There is one thing I don't get, though. If the helicopter was spotted in 1995, why did it take until 1999 to recover it? I'm just curious.

First of all the helicopter spotted IT (the bomber wreckage), not the other way around.

My guesses on the reasons for the delay are:

1) Suharto was still in power in 1995, and I think his successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, took power in 1999 or thereabout.
The recovery of American bodies was probably very low on the dictator Suharto's "to-do" list.

2) The area is probably VERY remote.

[Lee'sGhost]

Can't remember the name, but it wasn't that one. It was billed as the only flying B-24 left, I believe. If you did a google search you could probably find something.

[Slip18]

Thanks, CD. Didn't know that.

[Constitution Day]

You're welcome.

I can't believe I remembered how to spell "Megawati Sukarnoputri".
I just love her name.

It trips off the tongue like India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Thanks for reading the thread.

[Slip18]

You've done well, CD. I would have spelled Megawati "megawatt." LOL!

[VOA]

Leave no man behind...

[Constitution Day]

Thanks for the correction, and for taking the time to read.

FRegards,
CD

[Constitution Day]

Thanks for checking it out.

Off topic, but will you be at CPAC? I'm coming.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

My dad flew C-46's over the Hump in the China-Burma-India Campaign, was involved in a crash and treated for burns at an Army hospital in Texas. He never received Veterans' status or benefits because he was a civilian pilot for the AAF. There were many "silent birdmen" in the war (too old, couldn't pass physical, etc) who wore the uniform but without rank insignia.

[Constitution Day]

BTTT

[JudyB1938]

Your father was a very brave man. Only the BEST could do what he did. I know you are very proud of him. Have you made a website about him?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I've thought about it. He was born in 1906 and was a little too old to 'step forward' like men who were 15 and 20 years younger. He was a civilian pilot for China National Airlines Company, then owned by American Airlines (it had various owners, including Pan American)and had lived in Shanghai in the 1930's. He went back to Asia as a Department of the Army Civilian in 1950, and I was raised as an Army brat in Japan.
One of the more unusual stories concerned his relationship with a Masonic Lodge he joined in Shanghai in the 1930's. The lodge was moved out of China to Tykyo in 1949 when the Communists took over the country. Dad rejoined the same lodge when he came to Japan almost 15 years later.

[ramonde]

my father in law was a navigator on squirrly Shirley....
i have 3 pictures of it tried to post but it did not work..