The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that, in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field, they accounted for ARM1c Wilbur A. Mitts. ARM1c Mitts was a radioman on a TBM-1c Avenger who, until this announcement, was Missing in Action from World War II.
Project Recover located and documented Mitts’ downed Avenger in Palauan waters in 2015. In partnership with DPAA, Project Recover recovered MIAs from the Avenger during our first MIA Recovery Mission in 2021. The Avenger took off from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier on September 10, 1944. The crew was a part of Torpedo Squadron 20 (VT-20). The Squadron was on a bombing mission targeting antiaircraft positions and transport ships on and near Malakal Harbor and Island in Palau.
The USS Enterprise was there along with 15 other aircraft carriers. All were part of Task Force 38. Together, they were conducting pre-invasion strikes on Palau in preparation for the invasion of Peleliu. Mitts’ plane was last seen spinning violently at 5,000 feet and crashing into the water of Malakal Harbor. Born in Missouri, Mitts entered the Navy from California. Regional newspapers note Mitts was a welterweight boxing champion in the area, known as “Windmill” Mitts.
The Find
Project Recover located the Grumman TBM-1c Avenger in the waters of Palau in 2015 during our third year in partnership with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware. Initially, poor visibility and short bottom time led us to misidentify the aircraft as a Helldiver. Upon closer investigation, including 14 dives to 112 ft, we got the proof we needed to confirm this was a TBM Avenger flown by Lt. Manown. Dr.
Pat Scannon completed the site survey for DPAA. In August 2021, Project Recover conducted its first MIA Recovery Mission and recovered the remains of Missing in Action service members from this site.
ARM1c Mitts was among them. Ships of Discovery also conducted a recovery mission at the Manown Avenger crash site in 2019.
Flag Ceremony
We held a flag ceremony over the Avenger in 2015, as has been our tradition from the start. Pat began by describing what was happening in Palau late in the summer late of 1944. The events he described contrasted sharply with the day’s serene water and clear blue sky. Pat read the names of the MIAs. Then, he recited the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon. The team folded one flag for each MIA associated with the crash site. CAPT Mickaila Johnston was selected to hold the flags until MIA was recovered, identified, and next of kin had been notified. Soon the flag will be given to ARM1c Mitts’ family in humble recognition of his service and sacrifice and the enduring cost to his family.
MIA Recovery Mission
In August 2021, Project Recover conducted an MIA Recovery Mission on the TBM-1c Avenger. This endeavor marked Project Recover’s first MIA recovery mission in partnership with DPAA, Scripps, and Legion Undersea Services. The accomplishment distinguishes Project Recover as the only non-government agency capable of all aspects of MIA Recovery, including research, search,
documentation, and recovery of land or marine-based crash sites. The MIA Recovery Mission involved a 20-member team that outfitted a barge to support the necessary operations, including surface-supplied diving, a recompression chamber, a crane, and an archaeological station. In Project Recover’s article, MIA Recovery Mission in Palau, our photos tell the story of the people, diving, archaeology, and wreckage retrieval.
Welcome home ARM1c Wilbur A. “Windmill” Mitts.
Thank you for Your Service and Sacrifice for All Americans. I salute you. 🙏🙏
R I P
Thank you for your heroic service. May you rest in peace.
Awesome work you do!
My mother and father were at Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. My father served in the Navy for 30 years. Thank you so much for what you are doing.
Thank you for your service and sacrifice. We are one grateful nation 🙏
I read this endearing story that was highlighted in the March issue of the Smithsonian magazine. I was so enthralled as I read this remarkable trek to find this crew’s plane. I’m a military history enthusiast plus I am involved in numerous veteran’s associations here in my hometown of Bakersfield, California. My most important mission as of late is being a board member for the only location in the country honoring all over 82,000 MIA/POWs in a special showroom we affectionately call “ MIAR”. It’s housed in the Portrait of a Warrior Gallery.
Missing in Action Remembers is a non profit group that when finished will house the dogtags of every missing service member since recordings were done during WWII. We have been in touch with the DPAA and asked the help of Mr. Kevin Costner to do a voiceover for our video. I’m very humbled and honored to be a part of this very worthwhile endeavor.
I truly hope that the team will locate any remains of Lt. Manown as now his two crewman have been laid to rest, he deserves the same.
Keep up the great work Project Recover and will follow along your progress on future recoveries while reading your newsletter.
Good luck and God Bless you all for what you are doing.
Very humbly your servant,
Marc Sandall
Cousin of Merrill K Sandall
Still entombed aboard the ol Arizona
Son of Walter “ Sandy” Sandall
Pilot C-47, 315th Troop Carrier Group
Atlantic Theater of Operations – WWII
Hi Marc,
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing a bit of your story. We have since been able to bring home Lt. Manown. Here is a link to a beautiful short documentary covering his homecoming.
Thank you. I have 2 uncles (RCAF) lost in Halifax and Lancaster bombers in Germany. One is still MIA. I commend the work you are doing to bring our boys home.
Clif, thank you for your kind words. As a retired B-52 pilot and a family member with a still missing loved one, you know all too well the importance of our mission. If you haven’t already and would like to, please share your uncle’s information with us through our MIA inquiry form so that we may add his case to our case files https://www.projectrecover.org/who-we-serve/#mia-families.