Column: Thoughts from Dr. Joe: 75 years later, recovery effort continues for lost crew
On Nov. 29, 1942, Lt. John Pritchard and Radio-Man First Class Benjamin Bottoms were flying a Grumman J2F Duck, a single-engine amphibious biplane, to rescue the crew of an Army Air Corps C-17 that had crashed Nov. 9 on southeastern Greenland. Pritchard and Bottoms bravely volunteered for the high-risk rescue mission into an isolated area known for its severe weather. At the time, the J2F Duck was aboard the Coast Guard Ship Northland, flying missions in search of German weather stations on the Greenland ice sheet.
For the second time during a 24-hour span, Pritchard and Bottoms were flying the Duck back to the C-17 crash site, attempting to rescue more of the crew. After extracting Cpl. Loren Howarth, the Duck attempted a return to the Northland, waiting off the coast at Comanche Bay. During the flight back, however, the plane flew into a whiteout. Unable to see where he was going, Lt. Pritchard faced a Mayday situation. His last words to the Northland were “M.O. - M.O. - M.O.” Pritchard was calling for a magnetic orientation, a bearing from the Northland that would tell him his location. In the vicinity of Koge Bay, the J2F Duck disappeared along with Pritchard, Bottoms and Howarth. These Americans are still out there, frozen in time, waiting for someone to find them and bring them home.
Seventy-five years later, while sitting in Starbucks, I am mesmerized listening to Jim Salazar tell me the story of the missing men. I am impressed by his passion, energy and single-mindedness as he expresses his intent to find their remains and bring them home. His team has had several unsuccessful attempts searching for the J2F Duck and its crew, which he believes is buried under as much as 268 feet of ice. This December they will return to the glacier and continue to look.
“Jim, what drives you to accomplish this formidable task?” I ask.
He stares right through me. “I want to honor the promise. I want to bring them home,” he says. He then opens his iPad and points to a black MIA flag. “You are not forgotten,” he says. I admired his resolve. It’s rare to find someone who means what they say.
Jim lives in Pasadena. Recently, we met after the La Cañada Memorial Day Commemoration and we set a date to meet at Starbucks.
When we got together I learned that he and his team have searched for missing aircraft lost over Greenland during World War II.
“The process is laborious,” he told me. “The logistics of flying in tons of scientific, geographical, geological and drilling equipment is a nightmare. Being on the Greenland icecap is magnificent and terrifying. Blizzard winds, subzero temperatures, hidden crevasses and an endless view of ice keeps the team on constant edge.”
As our conversation continued, I sensed his disappointment in not finding the J2F Duck and its crew. Regardless, Jim’s determination remains stalwart.
“It’s a race against time,” he said. Lt. Pritchard’s surviving sister, Nancy, 94, has been waiting three quarters of a century for her brother’s return. “While she is still alive, I want to find her brother and bring him home to her.”
Until then, Jim’s team will dedicate a plaque and monument in Kulusuk, Greenland, to the three lost Americans, frozen in time.
JOE PUGLIA is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us.
