Disinterment Directive for T/Sgt Robert A. Dunlap
T/Sgt Robert A. Dunlap
Radio Operator, B-17G Lady Jeannette (42-97904)
729th Bomb Squadron
452nd Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force
(Note-1)Dunlap’s Burial Record shows only that his cause of death was, airplane crash.
(Note 2) Many of the survivors reported the unconscious body of their radio operator was lying on the deck of the radio compartment when the crash took place. Two Frenchmen found a complete body lying between the broken off tail and the forward fuselage. His body was lightly singed from the flash fire that lasted a very short time. They also helped the medics from the 563rd SAW Bn, carry this body and place it next to the two complete bodies removed from the cockpit. Many French eyewitnesses saw the three bodies lying on a canvas near a fire started by the Americans. Yet, note the inventoried remains reported on the Disinterment Directive by the supervising Mortician. Fractured all major bones, skull, & mandible, distal ends of right radius and ulna missing. It is also important to note, that the second line consists of a darker ink and is at an angle to the first line, indicating the document was modified after originally created. Also to be noted, half the skull {1) has been identified as Dunlap (DNA), the arm join (2) was missing while all the rest of the remain are unidentified.
(Note 3) So few bones, when a complete body, with all bones with it at the time was seen by dozens of French eyewitnesses!
(Note 4) The second line of the Condition of Remains has obviously been added after the original form was filled in. That line consists of a darker ink and it is not level with the older line above, also note that the “;” behind mandible has been added later. They had found out that Dunlap had been wounded, but failed to describe the true wound instead they state the right arm elbow is missing. Yet, we know, that his arm, all of it, had been kept with the rest of his body.
The following chart shows the inventoried remains from the four burial packages found in all the four graves, in a way as they had been placed on a single table and inventoried. One has to ask, where are the remains of the complete bodies of 1/Lt Gott (MOH); 2/Lt Metzger (MOH) and T/Sgt Dunlap.
Over the past 15 years, the current US Government Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has been supplied with all the information found during the past twenty-four years of research by the author. They have stated, there is no proof the bodies of all the dead are not fully accounted for and the bodies were cremated by the fire at the crash site. The author then fact checked by contacting several firms that cremate human remains and was told, even with the extreme heat and time involved, the ball joints of a human remains often survives the cremation, as well as other bones. None of them believed, the flash fire was strong enough to do any damage to the complete bodies. When shown the existing ‘Dunlap Short Snorter’ bill and learning that Dunlap only carried the wallet in his upper left shirt pocket, they all laugh and say the accounting organization personnel are liars.
Another thing to note is in none of the Disinterment Directives is a note stating the inventoried remains showed any fire damage. Which would have had to exist, if the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency excuse for their failure to conduct the required full ‘Search and Recovery’ is to be believed. The (then) Mayor of Hattonville, Robert LeClerc, the Author, the representative from the (then) Mortuary Affairs Germany Headquarters who had come to Hattonville to tour the site and make a decision if a full ‘Search and Recovery’ should take place at the ‘Lady Jeannette’ crash site. After the tour, when leaving, he promised that he would report one was required and a follow up communications from that office stated one was being scheduled. In the fall, we were notified by Mr. David Roath, the Director of the Germany Mortuary Affairs Headquarters office that there would be a ‘Search & Recovery’ conducted at the site. As you have read, just as the author was ready to leave to be there, it was cancelled for a falsely declared emergency recovery in northeast France.
We hold no grudge with either this man or Mr. Roath, we know that both realized the site required a full Search and Recovery. However, they were overrode by the new people in charge in the Washington, D.C. office and as we realize, they had done all they could do, we had to accept what was done then.
Note: Fifteen years have passed and the (now) Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has continued in the planned failure to do what they state is their organization’s goal. We take care of the dead and we leave no man behind. No one man, but three men were and are still left behind in the Bois de Hattonville, two of whom were awarded the Medal Of Honor! While, what is not honored is their true location of death, or their true method of dead and the honest accounting of the remains of all four men killed in the crash of the Lady Jeannette.
You can help, contact your Congressional Representative and ask them to check into this failure or contact the author at ww1@ww1.org and discuss how you can help! This is what it is all about. When S/Sgt. Robbins and his wife realized what we were doing, he provided the newspaper articles and this collection of his souvenir of his Army Air Force Life during World War Two. In most bombers, the crew bombardier normally pulled the pins from the bomb fuses when altitude was reached, before the pin would freeze in the fuse and could not be pulled. There were bombs that were dropped that did not explode, with the fuse still in them. The bombs dropped on target and the mission counted. Robbins, being the souvenir person he was, kept two pins from bombs that dropped on Mersburg (Germany).
Without the relics gifted to the author, we would never have got past the walls put in place on Eisenhower’s order, to prevent anyone from ever figuring out exactly, what had happened at Tincourt-Boucly and Hattonville. Especially, the fact that American military personnel had illegally on his command, hid the true remains of American military personnel!
What do you think? If General Patton, now out of the Army, told the American public, that he knew many of them still did not know what had truly happened to their loved ones and he has absolute proof some will never know. He is providing this proof to the media, the President, and the Congress of the USA, absolute proof that Eisenhower had ordered the bodies of American military personnel to be hidden. Then, in order to cover-up what he had done and supported by every Commander in the Chain of Command that approved, signed and forwarded two Medal Of Honor applications with the knowledge the applications contained false descriptions of the men’s crash and their death!
When the author first contacted Stephen Hutton, who had researched the 36-BS (RCM-Radar Counter Measures), he was surprised to find that Hutton who had written a definitive book about the squadron, ‘Squadron Of Deception – The 36th Bomb Squadron in World War Two’, had no idea of where the B-24J 42-51226 had crashed in France. Hutton reported, he and the survivors had searched for years but could never pin point were their crash had taken place as they searched for a village named Boucly, not knowing it was part of a hyphenated name, Tincourt-Boucly. Thanks to Hutton, the author was able to talk to several of the survivors and each told the same story. They had been kept by themselves and told to stay out of sight as they were in an area where German snipers were still killing Americans. They were moved several times and then four days after their crash, they were told to be ready to leave in the morning. They were told, they were being taken to a nearby airfield that was still under sniper fire and there they would get out of their guarded covered truck and as fast as they could they were to get into the C-47 that was going to take them back to their base.
Each of them under scored the fact that they had been deeply informed during their training and missions that they were to never talk to each other about what they were doing and even after the crash other than learning three fellow crew members had died. This was all they knew. In fact, they were kept in very safe areas away from all other Americans and the base they flew out of was only a short distance from where they had crashed and there had been no Germans in the area for a month and a half.
Upon their return the crew reported to their headquarters where the Commander met with them and informed them that what had happened was top secret and they were not to talk to anyone about and that as soon as an aircraft became available they would be flying missions. Basically, each of them were to forget what had happened and if they ever talked to anyone about it they could find themselves in jail for a long time. The threats worked because each of the men the author interviewed told him they had never talked to anyone, even their fellow survivors about their crash nor the deaths of their fellow crewmen until Hutton contacted them.
The assorted remains, that consisted of the Official Remains of the three Killed In Action men were buried at first in a temporary cemetery in Belgium, then during the ‘Final Disposition’ in 1948, their ‘remains’ were disinterred, identification verified and prepared for the next step. The ‘remains’ of 2/Lt Frederick G. Grey were shipped home to Sioux Rapids (Iowa), for burial in the Lone Tree Cemetery. The ‘remains’ of Sgt Raymond G. Mears were shipped home to Hagerstown (Maryland) for burial in the Rest Haven Cemetery (Apr 9, 1949). The ‘remains’ of Sgt Frank A. Bartho were interned in the Henri-Chapelle American WWII Cemetery and Memorial, Belgium, Row H, Plot 10, Grave 16. The author and his wife have visited the graves of all the men killed in the two crashes, except for 2/Lt Grey at Sioux Rapids (Iowa). We were on our way to visit his official grave in the spring of 2015 when sudden snow storm prevented the visit. In 2014, the author met with Lt Grey’s daughter, her daughter and soon to be son-in-law in France. His daughter was born after he had been killed so this visit allowed them closure as we visited the crash site, the memorial, and the second grave.
Note: A few days after their return another B-24J, the 546, was assigned to the remaining Hornsby crew, along with three newly assigned crew members to make up for their loss. They continued to fly ‘Spoofing Missions’ for the rest the war. They did paint the name ‘I Walk Alone’ on the plane.
The second American remains recovery team from the 397-BG was observed hiding the second recovery of remains at the 226 (B-24) crash site, which consisted of about two-thirds of the total remains recovered on the November 10, 1944. One of the Frenchmen who had helped the Americans recover the remains saw what they had done and reported it to his village Priest and Elders. They went to the nearby American WWI Cemetery at Bony and asked if they would take the remains and bury them in a grave marked Unknown. To a Frenchman of that period, that meant they were going to bury the remains in an ossuary, which could consist of hundreds or thousands of Unknown Dead. They decided, these men had died for France and they deserved a grave of their own, not an ossuary burial.
Two weeks after the remains had been hidden, the Priest went to the hidden grave and with the help of several men disinterred the remains from the hidden grave and moved them to a grave of their own in the Village Cemetery of Cartigny (Department of the Somme in France), where the grave continues to exist with a memorial above it that provides any visitor with the information required to duplicate the author’s research. It was at this place, on Christmas Eve 1991, that the author was introduced to the grave by a Frenchman who requested the author identify the person in the grave by the 50th Anniversary of ‘D-Day’ in 1994. On December 22, 2015, all of the mystery has not been solved. Yes, the remains in the grave are identified and the story of their death fully understood. However, there still exists a major mystery at the crash site of the (B-17) ‘Lady Jeannette’ concerning the remains of the four men who died during the crash of the bomber in the Woods of Hattonville.
After the Crash
S/Sgt Robbins, the waist gunner who was the only surviving crewman with no wounds, found himself in Paris that same afternoon and he was put on a plane back to England on the November 11. He arrived back at the 452-BG early November 12, and he immediately went to the room of 2/Lt Collins, the normal Gott crew copilot and woke Collins up to tell him what had happened. They talked for the rest of the night and in the morning Collins went with Robbins to report to the Group and Squadron Commanders. When Robbins was finished, Collins asked to stay and talk to the two commanders. Once Robbins had left, Collins told the commanders that they should put Gott and Metzger up for the Silver Star because they should have crashed at once and they died trying to save the life of a wounded crewman. Both men assured Collins they would look into what had happened. Collins did remember that was the last time he had seen Robbins at the base so he assumed Robbins had been sent to a rest camp. 2/Lt Collins continued to visit the Commanders offices every day asking if the awards were being considered. Just after December 2, 1944, he was assured the award was being advanced and he should prepare for orders to go home.
T/Sgt Gustafson, the flight engineer, was sent to a base hospital in England, where his temporary cast was cut off and a new cast put on. Then he was sent to a second recovery base hospital where he was told he would be held for a few months until he could be flown back to the states for a full recovery at a hospital close to his home.
Sgt Fross, the ball turret gunner, was sent to a base hospital in England and kept there even though his head wounds had quickly healed. Fross stayed at the hospital and never went back to his base even though his head wounds had quickly healed. Fross told the author, he had informed the hospital staff in England that he had helped at the hospital in France with their German POWs and it was decided he would stay at the hospital to work with their POWs.
Lady Jeannette – 56th Anniversary of Crash
‘Lady Jeannette’ Memorial Dedication – November 9, 2000
US Air Force Honor Guard from Germany
The grave memorial does not state that there are official graves for the three men, each contains about 1/3rd of the remains of the original collection at the crash site. The contents of the official graves were recovered in the early morning of November 10, 1944, which became the official remains. This grave consists of the second recovery of remains by American medics at the crash site of the 226 (B-24).
Then, illegally hidden in an unmarked grave in a freshly plowed field, something no American military person would even consider on their own. This was ordered by someone who had the power to make a crashed top secret B-24J shot down by ‘friendly fire’ disappear by illegally created documents including the official aircraft record. This person was able to keep the truth from the American public while completing a military career and becoming a President of the United States.
The military career officers who helped him, reached a bright future and the OSS men who made it happen feared all their life that the truth would destroy them once their protector had died. The truth has been in the public for over fifteen years, and yet … few appear to care?
When 2/Lt Harms woke up, he found the large magnum bottle of Cognac, he was then checked to see if he could walk and talk and he was finally put on a train to get on a boat to England, where he went to a base hospital. There, he was checked again and sent back to his unit, the 452-BG. Upon arrival, the Squadron Commander told him to report to the Group Commander where he told his story and was told to get ready to leave for a rest camp that would last a couple of weeks and where a decision would be made about his further situation.
2/Lt Harland, for his side, managed to extend his stay in Paris a couple of extra days before he had to return to the 452-BG where he too reported to the Squadron Commander, told his story to the Group Commander and was also sent to a rest camp. None of the survivors ever saw any of the other men when they returned to their base after the crash. Except for a chance meeting between Collins and Robbins, only a couple ever communicated with each other. That continued until the author contacted them forty-nine years and nine months after their crash in France.
B-24J 42-51226 – Tincourt-Boucly (Department of the Somme, France)
226 Memorial – Located at the southern edge of the Bois de Buire on land donated by an excellent friend, Claude Obert, who saved the original memorial plaques when the intersection to the north of Tincourt-Boucly, was to be rebuilt and the village decided to destroy the memorial dedicated near the true crash site on November 9, 2000. To insure the Memorial could not be treated in such a manner again, Claude dedicated some of his land to the French Government. An excellent friend and supporter of America and American research during both wars, our friend Claude Obert completed his final transfer in 2014.
Note: All the four memorials we have helped put in place in France contain enough information for any historian who might wish to verify our research to do so.
Additional Sources
tailendcharlietedchurch.wordpress.com
coloradohometownweekly.com
B-24 Golden Girl (warhistoryonline)
A request of the Author
Book 1: The Best Kept Secret Of World War Two! Willis S. Cole, Jr. ISBN: 978-0-9662728-1-9 Basic, factual story of the events, tied together for reading. Using some fictionalized entries.
Book 2: Why We Killed General Patton! The Best Kept Secret Of World War Two! Willis S. Cole, Jr. ISBN: 978-0-9662728-5-7 Using more fictionalized entries to make it easier reading for the average reader.
Available through bookstores and on-line. Also BookFinder.com provides a large list of vendors, around the globe, and even on EUCMH: The Best Kept Secret of WW2 or Last Flight of the Lady Jeannette
