There are more 52 in the "BERLINER MORGENPOST"
Tuesday 28 September 2010
UK ambassador raises plight of Palestinian WWII veterans
By Simona Sikimic
Daily Star staff
BEIRUT: The British Ambassador to Lebanon, Francis Guy, on Wednesday advocated to raise the plight of some 60 Palestinian World War II veterans who reside in Lebanon in abject poverty despite years of loyal service.
“The tragic irony of their situation is heart-wringing,” Guy said in a blog post for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). “After loyally serving the Union Jack, in 1948 they were forced to flee their homes when the state of Israel was created.
“Some of them have been in refugee camps in Lebanon ever since,” she wrote.
About 6,000 Palestinians voluntarily chose to serve in the British army, serving in the Middle East and North Africa. Many did this so opposition to Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who sided with the Axis powers in a bid to block suspected British intentions of establishing a Jewish state within Palestine as outlined in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
Read mor e at the "Daily Star"
Daily Star staff
BEIRUT: The British Ambassador to Lebanon, Francis Guy, on Wednesday advocated to raise the plight of some 60 Palestinian World War II veterans who reside in Lebanon in abject poverty despite years of loyal service.
“The tragic irony of their situation is heart-wringing,” Guy said in a blog post for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). “After loyally serving the Union Jack, in 1948 they were forced to flee their homes when the state of Israel was created.
“Some of them have been in refugee camps in Lebanon ever since,” she wrote.
About 6,000 Palestinians voluntarily chose to serve in the British army, serving in the Middle East and North Africa. Many did this so opposition to Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who sided with the Axis powers in a bid to block suspected British intentions of establishing a Jewish state within Palestine as outlined in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
Read mor e at the "Daily Star"
Missing WWII Naval Aviators Identified
The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
Navy Lt. Francis B. McIntyre of Mitchell, S.D., will be buried on Sept. 29, and Aviation Radioman Second Class William L. Russell of Cherokee, Okla., will be buried on Oct. 1. Both men will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
On Nov. 10, 1943, the two men took off on a bombing and strafing mission in their SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber from Munda Field, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands. Witnesses last saw the aircraft flying at low altitude through a large explosion on an enemy airfield on Buka Island, Papua New Guinea. None reported seeing the crash of the aircraft itself.
The American Graves Registration Service searched numerous South Pacific Islands in 1949 in an effort to gather data about aircraft crashes or missing Americans. The team was unable to find any useful information, and failed to recover any American remains in the area. A board of review declared both men unrecoverable.
In 2007, a Papuan national found a World War II crash site near the Buka airport, which was reported to U.S. officials. In May 2008, specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), working with the country’s national museum, investigated the crash site but were unable to excavate it because of inclement weather. Local officials turned over human remains, McIntyre’s identification tag and other military-related items which had been recovered earlier. After examining the remains in 2008 and 2009, JPAC determined that no excavation would be required since the two sets of remains were nearly complete.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons for both men and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA which matched a sample from Russell’s relatives and DNA extracted from a hat belonging to McIntyre.
At the end of World War II, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 individuals. Today, more than 72,000 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.
Source "Departement of Defense"
Navy Lt. Francis B. McIntyre of Mitchell, S.D., will be buried on Sept. 29, and Aviation Radioman Second Class William L. Russell of Cherokee, Okla., will be buried on Oct. 1. Both men will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
On Nov. 10, 1943, the two men took off on a bombing and strafing mission in their SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber from Munda Field, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands. Witnesses last saw the aircraft flying at low altitude through a large explosion on an enemy airfield on Buka Island, Papua New Guinea. None reported seeing the crash of the aircraft itself.
The American Graves Registration Service searched numerous South Pacific Islands in 1949 in an effort to gather data about aircraft crashes or missing Americans. The team was unable to find any useful information, and failed to recover any American remains in the area. A board of review declared both men unrecoverable.
In 2007, a Papuan national found a World War II crash site near the Buka airport, which was reported to U.S. officials. In May 2008, specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), working with the country’s national museum, investigated the crash site but were unable to excavate it because of inclement weather. Local officials turned over human remains, McIntyre’s identification tag and other military-related items which had been recovered earlier. After examining the remains in 2008 and 2009, JPAC determined that no excavation would be required since the two sets of remains were nearly complete.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons for both men and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA which matched a sample from Russell’s relatives and DNA extracted from a hat belonging to McIntyre.
At the end of World War II, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 individuals. Today, more than 72,000 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.
Source "Departement of Defense"
WWII gunboat museum proposed for Petaluma
By LORI A. CARTER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Much like the men who served aboard them during World War II, the Mighty Midgets are a dying breed.
One hundred and thirty Landing Craft Support gunboats were built in 1944 and 1945.
The last one afloat is moored at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, its 11 inactive guns and 10 rocket launchers pointing harmlessly skyward.
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Much like the men who served aboard them during World War II, the Mighty Midgets are a dying breed.
One hundred and thirty Landing Craft Support gunboats were built in 1944 and 1945.
The last one afloat is moored at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, its 11 inactive guns and 10 rocket launchers pointing harmlessly skyward.
But if a group of aging WWII veterans can pull it off, LCS(L) 102 may someday be berthed in the Petaluma River as a museum to honor the powerful little ships' contributions to the Pacific Theater of operations.
Read more at the "The Press Democrat"
Life of WWII Indian flying ace celebrated in Gravesend
Family and friends of an Indian pilot who flew Hawker Hurricanes during World War II are celebrating his life at a gathering in Kent.
The ceremony in his memory is being held at Holy Trinity School near his home in Gravesend on Tuesday evening.
Sqn Ldr Pujji won the Distinguished Flying Cross for services in Burma.
He also flew combat missions in Britain, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East during the war and earlier this year published a book about his experiences entitled For King and Another Country.
To read more link to the BBC
Wednesday 15 September 2010
65 years later, World War II widow receives soldier's medals
By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Roy John Spencer died when his bazooka blew up. He left behind a teenage bride and some unfinished business.Some 65 years after Spencer's death, Anna Heinrichs of Coarsegold, Calif., reclaimed a wartime debt Tuesday. With some congressional help, the retired educator secured the medals for which her first husband paid dearly.
Accompanied by family members — including her second husband, World War II Marine veteran Wes Heinrichs — Anna received her due Tuesday morning on the Speaker's Balcony of the U.S. Capitol. A combat-proven Army officer presented her with a Silver Star, a Purple Heart and other medals that Spencer earned long ago.
Read more at the MCCLATCHY NEWS
A fitting farewell at last for forgotten WWII heroine Eileen: Undertakers agree to foot bill for a proper church funeral after public outcry
By Graham Smith and Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 3:06 PM on 14th September 2010
The daring British Second World War spy who died alone in her flat earlier this month will receive an all-expenses-paid funeral following public outcry that she was to be cremated unmourned.
Eileen Nearne had hardly any visitors to her Torquay home over the past two decades before she was found dead after suffering a heart attack at the age of 89.
It is understood she has no surviving family and no-one was found to pay for her funeral.
Hundreds of well-wishers have today volunteered to donate money so that Miss Nearne could be given a send-off befitting her wartime service.
The members of the public, moved by her heroic tale, inundated the local council asking for details of where her funeral would be taking place and offering money to help pay for it.
Read more at the "MAIL ON-LINE"
Last updated at 3:06 PM on 14th September 2010
Eileen Nearne had hardly any visitors to her Torquay home over the past two decades before she was found dead after suffering a heart attack at the age of 89.
It is understood she has no surviving family and no-one was found to pay for her funeral.
Hundreds of well-wishers have today volunteered to donate money so that Miss Nearne could be given a send-off befitting her wartime service.
The members of the public, moved by her heroic tale, inundated the local council asking for details of where her funeral would be taking place and offering money to help pay for it.
Read more at the "MAIL ON-LINE"
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