8308 QUARTERLY UPDATE
September 27, 2005
SEPTEMBER REMEMBERANCES:
1ST LT
MELVIN POWER
Sept 21, 1906
F/0 T GENE GAMBALE
Sept 1, 1920
Always remembered
in our hearts.
Happenings Since June:
· July 25th Gene Gambale and Lisa Phillips met with Mr. Arshad, Press Minister
to Bangladesh. He is very willing to have investigations into missing C-47 43-48308 begin. He will begin investigations as soon as approval is received from JPAC. Mr. Arshad feels that this is a very humanitarian mission and a mission of love.
· July 28th the first of many articles have come out on the Bring Them Home Campaign
– many thanks to Sarah Sherman for that. If you have not seen it –
you can reach the Boothbay Register on line and ask for the July 28th edition.
· July from RFAD (Repatriation and Family Affairs Division):
Capt. Madrid informs me that letters have gone out
to family members that we have found – seeking DNA samples.
· August brought the kick-off of the Bring Them Home Campaign
· The Trenton NJ newspaper, Raleigh, NC, and Lakes Region Suburban (Windham, ME) will be running articles on our missing men
· August 29, 2005 Channel
6 news from ME interviewed Sarah Sherman, Lisa Phillips,
· August 30, 2005 –
Malcolm Beam (Malcolm Carter’s nephew) has made connection with us
· September 1, 2005 – Jim Goodrich was interviewed by the North County Times in Escondido, CA
· September 24, 2005 –
Family Update meeting in San Diego.
Also in September: LTC Hedrick, US Army Attaché, Bangladesh checked out the crash site in Tekerhat and has sent
a full report to JPAC.
The
update meeting:
Oh my goodness what can I say about
this? It was dynamic!
We came together as one large family. To hear the stories of lost
loved ones from all of the wars was just so heart wrenching. It
was a very emotional day for all of us I think. Chris McDermott(our
historian) did an awesome job with his presentation about this case. He
went over what research has been done, what obstacles are in the way, and what we need to do. Also
present were Ms. Tracy Brown from RFAD, LTC Schuneman from RFAD, Dr. Holland from JPAC.
Walter has posted stories on the web page from different members
– so please read them. I think together we will all make a
difference and our loved ones will know they are not forgotten. In that room
you could feel the love and the pain for these lost heroes. I would recommend
that everyone go to an Update Meeting at least once. It truly gives you
a better understanding of how these men and woman of our government agencies do care about our lost loved ones and the process
they have to go through to return them to us.
Connections made:
- Ruth Gamong(William Fetterman’s widow) wrote in and she has now made a connection with the Carter Family. Malcolm Carter and Bill Fetterman were crew mates on the Bugs Buggy and
Ruth had waited 62 years to hear something, anything about Bill. These
two gentleman’s remains were listed on our C-47 as the 5 unknowns. It
is now a known fact that the unknowns aboard 8308 are from the crew of the Bugs Bunny.
I am very happy for Ruth to have this connection and for the Carter Family.
- August – found the family of Paul Elyea – communications will start between George(Paul’s brother)
and Ruth Gamong, Grant Erwin and the Carter family. All of these families had a loved one on the same aircraft and they were all lost on the same
day. Grant was the only survivor of the crew that day.
- Connection was made with Malcolm Carter’s nephew Malcolm Beam
- We are now helping out a test pilot that was a civilian yet worked for the Army during WWII. He came to us for help – he did not know where to turn to.
He tells the story of how he and others in his group tested the aircraft and how they lost their lives testing aircraft
for our men – yet they were never recognized as being veterans. I think
he talks about 75-100 men lost that are still MIA. He is now getting the
help he needs from DPMO.
Also please send
any news you would like published to lphillips5@verizon.net for the next Quarterly Update.
Lisa Phillips
