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Author: jlauman_1
Surnames: zimmerman
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.zimmerman/649.2/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
I'm part of the Zimmerman family as well.
The B-25 in question was lost on Aug. 5, 1943. The missing aircrew report states that they
"Hit barges at Mandang - Crash landed 100 yd. S.W. of Wongat Island."
http://www.footnote.com/image/#30087856
Aircrew was as follows:
Maj. W.W. Cox s/n 0-426370 ENS
2nd Lt. R.J. Koscelnak s/n 0-732556 DED
1st Lt. L.J. Ritacco s/n 0-660907 DED
T/Sgt. Hugh W. Anderson s/n 38 069 521 DED
S/Sgt. Raymond J. Zimmerman s/n 39 304 264 DED
A "M. Williston, Jr." may have been onboard the aircraft as well.
I also found the following website which states that the pilot was sent to a Japanese
prison camp, but the other members of the crew were executed bu the Japanese Army. I'm
not sure if it's the aircraft in question but it did crash in August 1943.
http://www.marinews.com/exploring_details.php?exID=496
Madang, on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, is a mecca for divers, especially those
with a fascination for World War II shipwrecks, Tony Karacsonyi discovers.
The B25 Mitchell bomber spread its wings before us, like a great wandering albatross.
Fully intact, except for its port engine, which broke off when the plane crashed into the
sea, the aeroplane lay peacefully on the sandy seafloor. She did battle with the Japanese
in 1943, but was shot down by their anti-aircraft fire. We could clearly see rounds of
50-calibre ammunition, near the machine guns and bombs still wired inside. Helen, my dive
buddy, slipped inside the pilot's seat, for an underwater joy flight.
The Japanese took Madang during WW2, but once Lae was recaptured, Australian forces pushed
the Japanese back up the coast, to where they were defeated in Wewak. Madang was totally
destroyed, then rebuilt, but some relics of the WW2 remain, like the bullet-ridden
aircraft at Madang's old airstrip and many ship and aircraft wrecks.
Many allied aircraft were shot down in Madang, like the B25 Mitchell bomber we dived on.
The aeroplane's crew swam to Wongat Island, where they were captured and executed by
the Japanese. The pilot swam to the mainland, where he was hidden for several days by the
natives before being captured and sent to a Prisoner of War camp.
Jack Lauman
Birch Bay, WA
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