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Written by Mary-Kate Roan
Published on Pikecountytimes.com
Also published in The Thomaston Times
A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the saying goes. Looking over the black and white photograph of a man that so many would never know, it's hard to imagine what he would have been like.
I know what he looks like without colors, but I cannot help but imagine just what color his dark hair really was. Did it have any red tints to it like my grandmother's? What did he sound like when he laughed? Just what color were his eyes? What kind of music did he listen to? Was he a good dancer, or was he the reserved kind of man - a wallflower even? Was he the kind of man that would always put his best foot forward? Or was he the loner of the group, always brooding and contemplating? Was he a romantic? What was his favorite sport?
The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office states that over 74,000 people were not recovered after World War II. Among them is my great-uncle.
Not much is known about Robert Eugene Oxford in my family other than the fact that he signed up for duty in World War II only to be declared missing in action along with the crew of a B-24 Liberator named "Hot As Hell." His body, along with the plane and crew, were never found. I know more about the plane that carried him than the man himself.
The National Archives and Records Administration speaks highly of the B-24 Liberator, stating that:
"This Consolidated-built heavy bomber reached higher production than any other U. S. World War II combat aircraft. A total of 18,188 of these versatile four-engine bombers was built for the U. S. Air Corps, Navy, and Allies. The B-24 went through many modifications which added armor, power-operated gun turrets, self-sealing gasoline tanks, and armament to the original model. The B-24 was used not only as a bomber but as a tanker and transport, and although it flew in all theaters of war, it was used most in the Mediterranean and Pacific, where longer range gave it an edge over the B-17. This range made it particularly useful in the Pacific for search missions for downed airmen." "Chennault's Forgotten Warriors, The Saga of the 308th Bomb Group in China" by Carroll V. Glines states that:
"While only two planes were lost on combat missions in January 1944, there were other heavy non-combat losses. Five planes were lost on January 25 on a routine ferry flight to Chabua from Kunming and Chengkung. The weather, reported as sufficiently high at Chabua at takeoff time for the return flight, closed in upon arrival in the Chengkung area. One plane crashed there killing all aboard except two men, Sgts. Donald L. McQueen and George M Keefauver. Two planes crashed after the crews bailed out and two others were reported missing. One of the missing planes, piloted by Major Harry H Musinski, had twelve men aboard, including Lt. Charles H Mortimer, the 425th's flight surgeon. The other missing plane had eight men aboard."On January 25, 1944, a B-24 named "Hot As Hell" and its 8 crew members took off from Kunming, China for a routine flight to Chabua, India. The crew was listed as:
(Pilot) 1st Lt. William A. Swanson, 0-728935; (Co-Pilot) F/O Sheldon L. Chambers, T-291;
(Navigator) 1st Lt. Irwin Zaetz, 0-791661;
(Bombardier) 1st Lt. Robert E. Oxford, 0-663308;
(Engineer) S/Sgt. Charles D. Ginn, 15084114;
(Radio Operator) S/Sgt. Harry B. Queen, 11021096;
(Gunner) Sgt. James A. Hinson, 14188472;
(Gunner) Sgt. Alfred H. Gerrans, Jr., 34315848.
The plane never made it to its destination in India. The crew, including Eugene, was declared dead on November 20, 1944. The wreckage was never found. No trace of the plane or crew was ever discovered.
Eugene was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Oxford; siblings, Paul, Clay, Fred and Martha; and a fiancé named Susan Brown. His brothers also served in the war.
He graduated from Midland Army Flying School in Midland, Texas on August 13, 1942.
Little else is known about Eugene's service in my family. From letters that were gathered after he was switched from "missing in action" to "killed in action" I can only gather a few skeletal remains of the man that was Robert Eugene Oxford.
In a letter from Matt Quackenbush written after news of Eugene's missing in action status, a friend of Eugene in the war, the true nature of Gene was discovered; he was known as "Ox" and had "not a fault."
"He is a very good and conscientious bombardier, always did his job as it should be done," Quackenbush wrote. "Also he is very popular with every man in the squadron; lots of times he sang old hill billie songs for us."
"He'd spend most of the time writing letters and thinking of home," he adds.
It's a story that no one really likes to talk about in my family - mainly because Eugene's family is gone for the most part, save his 94-year-old brother Fred, who despite his age can still drive in heavy traffic and lives in Atlanta. The story has often haunted me. I know that all those years ago when my grandmother died, she wanted to find Eugene, or at least know what happened to him.
And on September 8, the phone call that three generations of my family have been waiting for finally came. The plane has been found.
In a remote ravine near the village of Damroh in India, the remains of the plane have been found. Pictures of the crumbled steely flesh of what was once the magnificent iron bird flying in the sky now can be seen on the Internet, a ghostly image with tree branches beginning to blend with the man-made architecture.
Clayton Kuhles, of MIARecoveries.org discovered the plane. MIA Recoveries has taken on the task of providing information on "ongoing expeditions into Burma, India, Bangladesh and China to locate and document missing-in-action (MIA) Allied aircraft lost in that area of Asia during World War II."
"During World War II," the website explains. "The Allies lost hundreds of aircraft in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of operations. Although hostile fire from Japanese forces accounted for many Allied aircraft losses in the CBI theater, the majority of Allied crashes were caused by inhospitable weather, mechanical failure, or navigational error."
"We attempt to account for and recover those long-lost Allied military personnel and to bring some level of closure to their surviving relatives and friends," adds the MIA Recoveries website.
Kuhles remains optimistic about retrieving remains and other precious artifacts from the crashsite.
"The locals in these areas would leave any human remains as-is and would not remove them," said Kuhles. "I have every reason to believe all the crew member remains can still be found at the crash site if it is thoroughly and professionally excavated."
Kuhles also has a hypothesis about why the plane crashed in the first place - low fuel.
"There are no high mountains or other physical barriers in the area to cause the crash," he said. "Crashes over high mountains are often caused by icing."
Men died there. In a mixture of chaos and bravery, men lost their lives there. I should hope it was an immediate death for them all - as I'm no expert, that would be my general impression. I imagine fear, and I certainly can imagine pain beyond my comprehension going through these fine examples of men in their final moments.
But I hope in many ways that my imagination is wrong.
A parachute, oxygen tank and "numerous human remains" were found at the site of the crash, and even more hopeful for the possibility of identification is the fact that there doesn't appear to be any signs of fires that damaged the area. However, the battle has only just begun. Now, my family has to somehow convince the government to investigate this crashing.
One thing is certain for the plane "Hot As Hell" and its crew:
It's time for these heroes to come home. After over half of a century in a foreign country, away from their families, they can finally begin their journey home. No longer are their rotting remains alone amongst the wilderness. At least now we know a little piece of the puzzle - that they did indeed crash and didn't simply vanish into thin air.
"I hope you get home before you get this letter," said my grandmother in a returned letter to Eugene. "It would be the best thing we could have happen to us now to hear that you were out of that jungle and on your way home. We certainly haven't given up hope and won't. We have read so much about boys that have been in those jungles for months and still find their way out. It really gives us encouragement."
But the battle's just begun. There still needs to be a formal investigation into why the plane crashed; the bodies need to be identified (probably through DNA from the bones); and the crew needs to finally come home to rest in peace.
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