[August 26, 2024] As Americans, we often speak with deep respect for those military members who served in combat and those on the home front who supported the war effort. Often overlooked are those who died during training or other similar missions. In the Sierra Nevada mountains of northern California, two WWII Airmen were found frozen in the ice more than 50 years after the end of the war.
The first was found by two backcountry ice climbers making their way to the base of the Mendel Glacier, over 1,000 feet below the summit. They saw some fabric in the distance and went to investigate, thinking initially that the body they saw was that of another climber. Upon looking more closely, they saw what they thought was a knapsack but then realized it was a parachute. The words “US Army Air Corps” were written on the fabric.
Why an airman from WWII would be found in the American West was puzzling to many. Law enforcement was notified and brought in a specialized military response team. Forensic anthropologists thawed the body and went through the Airman’s clothing to see if they could figure out who he was.
The first clue in determining who he was focused on the Airman’s dog tags. Unfortunately, the dog tags were heavily corroded. After using DNA analysis and through the process of elimination, they believed they had found Airman Cadet Leo Mustonen.
It turns out that many Airmen were trained at nearby military bases, and unfortunately, there were aviation crashes. Military records showed a navigation training flight that lost one plane in November 1942. The actual wreckage of their aircraft was found in 1947, but no remains had been located to bury.
Interestingly, the military put the headstone in place listing the names of all four aircrew members. They did this to help console the families of those lost in this incident.
In 2007, two years after the discovery of Leo Mustonen, searchers found the body of another crew member, Glen Munn. The other two crewmen are still out there, waiting to be found.
These men were also part of the victory of WWII, and their souls can forever be connected to the destruction of the greatest evil mankind experienced during the 20th century.
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Excellent article. Thank you, Gen. Satterfield.
Gen. Satterfield nailed the right idea with his last paragraph.
“These men were also part of the victory of WWII, and their souls can forever be connected to the destruction of the greatest evil mankind experienced during the 20th century.” – Gen. Doug Satterfield. Note that he says that these men are forever connected to the greatest effort of mankind to destroy Fascism and Japanese Imperialism. Today, we have another evil ideology and that is Communism, which infects our youth and makes them hate America, the very beacon of freedom in the world. Our youth want to have their lives controlled by the government, exactly what these men were training to fight.
My grandfather fought in WWII and was in the Pacific with the US Navy. I joined because of him. And I’m happy that he knew I would follow in his footsteps.
Thanks for your service, Navy Vet. And indeed we do have some great people here in America and many of them are in the US military. Despite Joe Biden and Kamala Harris trying to trash their reputations and using the miltiary as an social experiment, I do think that its a resilient organization that can recover from four years to wokeness. 👧👧👧👧👧👧
… and my uncles all fought in WW2. The stories they told me as a child, scared the dickens out of me.
I pray that the other two airmen are found. 🧑✈️ This is the result of war and the price paid was far beyond any of us today can imagine. The loses of national treasure and lives still impacts us today. 🎶 As we sing the praises of those lost and wounded, we need to also remember the families. 🙏 Pray for their souls and God Bless them.
The families are now whole as their relatives come home.
Well, that is a shocker. Four airmen lost in a plane crash and now, after more than 50 years – actually much longer – only two of their bodies have been found. Kudos to the adventure hikers who found the first man. Here is an article in the NYTimes (no, I don’t read the Times). “Funeral Held in Hometown for Airman Lost for 63 Years”
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/25/us/funeral-held-in-hometown-for-airman-lost-for-63-years.html
Thanks, yes, there was a flurry of articles about this around 2005 and 06 but it all died out. I’m glad that Gen. Satterfield has once again highlighted information for us. From what I know, Gen. Satterfield was in Iraq fighting a war during that time and thus was not reading the papers.
God Bless their souls as they are now in their final resting place with their families.