Francis B. McIntyre – Lieutenant, United States Navy

by

Francis B. McIntyre

  • Lieutenant, U.S. Navy
  • Service # 0-099727
  • United States Naval Reserve
  • Entered the Service from: Washington
  • Died: 10 November 1943
  • Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
  • Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
  • Manila, Philippines
  • Awards: Purple Heart

U.S. Department of Defense

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 879-10
September 27, 2010

Missing WWII Naval Aviators Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Navy Lieutenant Francis B. McIntyre of Mitchell, South Dakota, will be buried on September 29, 2010, and Aviation Radioman Second Class William L. Russell of Cherokee, Oklahoma, will be buried on October 1, 2010. Both men will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

On November 10, 1943, the two men took off on a bombing and strafing mission in their SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber from Munda Field, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands.  Witnesses last saw the aircraft flying at low altitude through a large explosion on an enemy airfield on Buka Island, Papua New Guinea.  None reported seeing the crash of the aircraft itself.

The American Graves Registration Service searched numerous South Pacific Islands in 1949 in an effort to gather data about aircraft crashes or missing Americans.  The team was unable to find any useful information, and failed to recover any American remains in the area.  A board of review declared both men unrecoverable.

In 2007, a Papuan national found a World War II crash site near the Buka airport, which was reported to U.S. officials.  In May 2008, specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), working with the country’s national museum, investigated the crash site but were unable to excavate it because of inclement weather.  Local officials turned over human remains, McIntyre’s identification tag and other military-related items which had been recovered earlier.  After examining the remains in 2008 and 2009, JPAC determined that no excavation would be required since the two sets of remains were nearly complete.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons for both men and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA which matched a sample from Russell’s relatives and DNA extracted from a hat belonging to McIntyre.

At the end of World War II, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 individuals. Today, more than 72,000 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.

Lost for 67 years, Navy Lt. Francis B. McIntyre is coming home.
By: Tom Lawrence,
Courtesy of The Daily Republic (Mitchell, South Dakota)

McIntyre, a Mitchell native who was killed in a World War II plane crash, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery Friday, according to the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO).

The DPMO recently announced that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action since 1943, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

McIntyre, a Mitchell native who was killed in a World War II plane crash, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery Friday, according to the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO).

The DPMO recently announced that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action since 1943, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

McIntyre and Aviation Radioman Second Class William L. Russell of Cherokee, Oklahoma, will be buried at the historic national cemetery.

On November 10, 1943, the two men took off on a bombing and strafing mission in their SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber from Munda Field, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands. Witnesses last saw the aircraft flying at low altitude through a large explosion on an enemy airfield on Buka Island, Papua New Guinea.

None reported seeing the crash of the aircraft itself but McIntyre and Russell were never seen again — until their bodies were found more than six decades later.

McIntyre apparently was born in Mitchell and Census records showed he lived here in 1920 and 1930. His mother died in 1924 and his father died in 1934.

According to The Daily News of Longview, Wash., McIntyre lived in the area before joining the Navy and still has family there.

In a story this June, The Daily News reported that “Francis McIntyre lived in Longview with his brothers — Don, Mathew, Joe and Francis — and attended Lower Columbia College in the 1930s.”

Family members told the paper that a “letter from his squadron commander said Francis McIntyre, 25, was leading a group of planes in the attack and was flying low after dropping his bomb when ‘his plane was seen to pass through the blast of a large explosion on the enemy base’ and ‘appeared to go out of control.’

“In February 2008, a Papua New Guinea newspaper reported that a local man found the remains of a U.S. Navy plane near a garbage dump on Buka Island. The island’s residents recovered human bones and a dog tag with Francis McIntyre’s name on it,” according to the article.

Francis “Tully” McIntyre of Seattle, who was named for his uncle, said the plane was submerged in a swamp for more than 60 years and appears to have emerged only after warm weather dried the area.

According to the DPMO, the American Graves Registration Service searched numerous South Pacific Islands in 1949 in an effort to gather data about aircraft crashes or missing Americans. The team was unable to find any useful information, and failed to recover any American remains in the area.

A board of review declared both men unrecoverable.

In 2007, a Papuan national found a World War II crash site near the Buka airport, which was reported to U.S. officials.

In May 2008, specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), working with the country’s national museum, investigated the crash site but were unable to excavate it because of inclement weather.

Local officials turned over human remains, McIntyre’s identification tag and other military-related items which had been recovered earlier. After examining the remains in 2008 and 2009, JPAC determined that no excavation would be required since the two sets of remains were nearly complete.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons for both men and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA, which matched a sample from Russell’s relatives, and DNA extracted from a hat belonging to McIntyre.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons for both men.

The airmen’s return is the latest in a long list of American heroes who were lost but not forgotten.

MCINTYRE, FRANCIS B

  • LT   US NAVY
  • WORLD WAR II
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 07/23/1918
  • DATE OF DEATH: 11/10/1943
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 59  SITE 4418
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Arlington National Cemetery Gravesite PHOTOS;

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