In our quest to find MIAs, we rely on volunteer experts on our team, the latest science and technology, and cooperation with US and Palaun agencies. We also use old-fashioned Indiana Jones - style slogging through archived records and old maps.
Lastly, but not
inconsequentially, we use conversation. We talk to people. Personal interviews. Knowledgeable guides. People steeped in knowledge and connection.
This is an excerpt from Mission VII when we followed a couple of Palaun hunters to the Avenger wing.
"Turned out to be a fairly long up-and-down jungle crawl through poison-tree headquarters just to get to the mangroves. Then it was a fairly straightforward slog through the mangrove roots and mud back to an area where we came upon ... an almost intact right outboard Avenger wing."
That was back in March 2005.
Back in those days, BentProp was operating solo. Finding a WWII plane wreck was work for the dogged.
An aside: In 2012, we joined forces with University of Delaware and Scripps Institute of Oceanography to form Project Recover. In 2015, we received generous support from the Friedkin Group. Those two factors turned the tide in the tools and technology at our disposal and, therefore, the speed and
capacity to pursue our mission to bring every MIA home.
In 2014, we found the rest of the Avenger. Until recently, it was the watery final resting place for three MIAs.
In December 2017, ARM2c Albert 'Bud' Rybarczyk was buried in his hometown with his surviving sister in attendance.
Look for our story sharing
the honor of attending the funeral of AOM2C Ora H. Sharninghouse, Jr., coming in an email soon.
