Pat Scannon, M.D., Ph.D., President and Co-Founder of Project Recover, has been nominated for the HillVets Hagel Award of 2018. The HillVets Hagel Award is an annual award given to the veteran, service member, or veteran who has given the most in support of veterans in the previous year. HillVets is a D.C.-based non-profit dedicated to helping veterans begin and advance in their second careers and increasing their presence in government, policy, and politics. Each year, HillVets accepts nominations for the HillVets 100; veterans, service members, and their supporters who have contributed the most to our veterans. From those HillVets 100, three are nominated for the HillVets Hagel Award. The winner of the HillVets Hagel Award will be voted on …
2018 Annual Report
Project Recover’s 2018 Annual Report summarizes our global efforts to bring Missing In Action (MIA) American service members home. We are honored to have worked on 26 cases associated with 104 MIAs and 22 POWs. Our work spanned eight countries in the Pacific and European theaters and in the Persian Gulf. We assisted in accounting for four World War II MIAs in 2018 and were honored to attend the funeral of three of them, at the invitation of the families. Project Recover located the stern of the USS Abner Read associated with 70 MIAs in July 2018. We also announced the discovery of the B-24 Heaven Can Wait in Hansa Bay near Papua, New Guinea, in May 2018 and attended …
Relatives of WWII B-24 Crew Gather For Heaven Can Wait ‘Family Reunion’
Heaven Can Wait Family Reunion On March 11, 1944, a World War II B-24 bomber called Heaven Can Wait came under anti-aircraft fire and crashed in the waters off Papua, New Guinea, killing all 11 crew members onboard. Seventy-four years later, on October 13th, 2018, relatives of the crew members gathered for a “family reunion” in Victoria, Minnesota. Using side-scanning sonars, high definition images, and underwater robotic technologies, Project Recover located the B-24 in 2017 under 213 feet of water. The family of Bombardier 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly, Jr, provided extensive research helping Project Recover to locate the aircraft within two weeks on the water. Scott Althaus, lead Kelly family researcher and first cousin once removed to the Bombardier, …
The Search For MIAs: Execution of WWII POWs and Innocents in Palau
July 2018 Project Recover spent three weeks searching for the remains from the execution of WWII POWs and innocents in Palau in July 2018. It was a land-based mission with two points of focus: Police Hill and Aimeliik. Pat Scannon, M.D., Ph.D., and founder of The BentProp Project, led the mission. Dan O’Brien, a 20 year veteran of BentProp, co-led the mission. The rest of the volunteer team was Jolie Liston, Ph.D. (archaeologist), Dave Bavencoff (police officer), Sarah Johnson (college sophomore), Glenn Frano (geospatial technician), and Joe Maldangesang, a State Conservation Officer and 20+ year veteran of BentProp, who served the mission as jungle guide and skipper We had key support from within Palau: Richard Madrekevet, an unexploded ordnance specialist, …
Walter Mintus, WWII Radioman, Buried With Military Honors
ARM3c Walter Mintus, WWII Radioman, was buried with military honors 74 years after being declared MIA. Project Recover located his TBM Avenger in 2016.
Otis E. Ingram, WWII Gunner, Accounted For By DPAA
Navy Aviation Chief Ordnanceman Otis E. Ingram, a WWII gunner, killed in 1944, has been accounted for by the DPAA. ACOM Ingram was a turret gunner aboard a TBM-1c Avenger and a member of the U.S. Navy Torpedo Squadron Fifty One (VT-51). Project Recover located that Avenger in 2016 and turned its findings over to the DPAA. Ingram and his crewmates were on a mission to bomb a Japanese base in Malakal Harbor, Palau. His aircraft took off from the USS San Jacinto on July 27th, 1944, and was in the lead position of four Avengers. According to reports, the aircraft was last seen three to five miles ahead. It was believed to have been spotted on fire in Malakal …
Becoming Project Recover
We are pleased to announce that BentProp has changed its name to Project Recover. Our mission, vision, and values will remain exactly the same, and we will still send you regular updates on our search for MIAs.
Project Recover Searches For WWII Aircraft, MIAs in Italy
Porto Santo Stefano, Italy16 September – 5 October 2018 Under contract with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Project Recover headed to Porto Santo Stefano in the Grosseto province of Italy to search for World War II aircraft and MIAs in September 2018. Our primary goal was to locate and positively identify an A-20, a B-24, B-25, and B-26, all associated with MIAs. The WWII aircraft were lost along the coastlines of Marina di Grosseto, Porto Ercole, and Porto Santo Stefano. Project Recover conducts all its missions in cooperation with local governments. We received approval from the Italian federal, provincial, and local governments in Grosseto region of Italy. We also held an information session for the local public. Italian colleagues, …
NOAA Reports Project Recover Locates Stern of USS Abner Read, WWII Destroyer
n a mission funded by NOAA, Project Recover located the stern of USS Abner Read, a WWII destroyer, off the coast of Alaska. The stern of USS Abner Read was torn off the destroyer in an explosion in the early morning hours of August 18th, 1943.
Project Recover Discovers Stern of World War II U.S. Destroyer off Remote Alaskan Island in NOAA-supported Mission
Project Recover Discovers Stern of World War II U.S. Destroyer off Remote Alaskan Island in NOAA-supported Mission.