Operation: Vunakanau Airfield, New Britain

Date: 21st May 1943 (Friday)

Unit No: 64th Bombardment Squadron (H), 43rd Bombardment Group (H), 5th Air Force

Type: B-17E

Serial: 41-9011

Code: Unknown

Base: 7 Mile Drome, Port Moresby, New Guinea

Location: Near the Warangoi River 25 mls SE of Rabaul, New Britain

Pilot: Capt. Joseph Woolley Geddes O-390211 AAF Age 27. KiA (1)

Co-Pilot: 2nd Lt. Leon Standish King O-736007 AAF Age 26. KiA

Nav: Capt. Leslie William Neumann SS (2OLC), DFC, O-421293 AAF Age 32. PoW/Murdered/MiA (2)

2nd Nav: 2nd Lt. Saul Albert O-731130 AAF Age 26. KiA

Bombardier: 2nd Lt. William Alfred Bujold O-734593 AAF Age 24. KiA (3)

Engineer: T/Sgt. William R. Moore 12008631 AAF Age 22. KiA (4)

Radio Operator: 2nd Lt. Emil Gentry O-732533 AAF Age 24. KiA

Gnr: S/Sgt. Ernest William Burnside SS, DFC, 33082604 AAF Age 24. PoW/Murdered/MiA (2)

Gnr: S/Sgt. John Joseph Mulligan 6903683 AAF Age 26. PoW/Murdered/MiA (2)

Gnr: Cpl. John Leonard Honold 13031711 AAF Age 23. KiA

Gnr: Pvt. Robert E. George 15072353, SS, AAF Age 20. PoW/Murdered/MiA (2)

Above left to right: Capt. Leslie W. Neumann, S/Sgt. Ernest W. Burnside, Cpl. John L. Honold (extracted from official crew photographs)

Above 2nd Lt. Emil Gentry (Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune, dated 11th June 1943)

REASON FOR LOSS:

At about 01:00 hrs on the 21st May 1943 B-17E 41-9011 and four (4) other B-17s took-off from 7 Mile Drome, New Guinea on an operation to bomb the Vunakanau Airfield near Rabaul on New Britain.

B-17E 41-9011 was intercepted and shot down 25 mls SE of Rabaul on New Britain by a Nakajima J1N1-S Gekkō “Irving” Night-fighter flown by Japanese Pilot Shigetoshi Kudo.

Shigetoshi Kudo went on to claim nine (9) aerial victories and two (2) probables. During May 1945 he was seriously injured in a landing accident and was not able to resume combat missions before the end of the war.

Five (5) of the crew managed to bale out. One made it to the Putput area trying to find help but was captured and shot by the Japanese. The other four, Capt. Neumann, S/Sgt. Burnside, S/Sgt. Mulligan and Pvt. George, were also captured and transferred to Rabaul where they were executed on 25th November 1943 with four (4) other PoWs.

The fifth (5th) member of the crew who made it to the Putput area has not been individually identified.

Two of the four (4) other PoWs executed were 2nd Lt. John S. Rippy O-730964 and Sgt. A. Currey who were the Co-Pilot and Waist Gunner aboard B-17E 41-9244 ‘Honi Kuu Okole’ shot down earlier in the morning the same day by Shigetoshi Kudo (7 KiA, 1 Evd, 2 murdered).

On the 17th December 1947 a search team from the then Graves Registration Service (GRS) located the wreckage of the B-17, which crashed into a mountainside near the Warangoi River 25 mls SE of Rabaul. Remains of all but four (4) men were recovered but not individually identified. In September 1951 those remains were interred in a group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis County, Missouri.

(1) Capt. Joseph W. Geddes (Courtesy of The Herald Journal, dated 28th January 1943)

(2) After the Japanese surrender an RAAF location party was led to by natives from Maturi Island to graves which were situated in the vicinity of the Japanese Cemetery at Matupi. They appeared to have been buried in several trenches. A huge bomb crater was alongside the graves and the natives stated that there was more graves there before the bombing, but that the bomb had blown them up. Recovery work was carried out until satisfied that no further remains were in the vicinity.

Thirty (30) bodies were recovered with the majority appearing to have been executed by decapitation and in some cases the victims had been bound wire before being killed. None of the remains recovered were identified as those of Capt. Neumann, S/Sgt. Burnside, S/Sgt. Mulligan and Pvt. George consequently they were posted as Missing in Action.

Note: In April 1948 the No.2 Australian War Crimes Section and the American Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) Legal Section agreed that all crimes in Australian New Guinea that were not complete would be handled by the Australians, whether Australians or Americans were victims.

Four (4) of the bodies were Australians and three (3) Americans had been known to be in the hands of the Japanese Navy in Rabaul and had allegedly been sent away by ship. The other nine (9) identified RAAF airmen were not previously known to have been captured were from 20 Sqn PBY-5 Catalina A24-18.

The recovered remains of two (2) RAAF airmen were never identified as were the remains of nine (9) American servicemen and two (2) unidentified whose Nationality were unknown.

The four (4) identified RAAF airmen were:

Sgt. David Stuart Brown 401489 RAAF who was the Pilot from 75 Sqn Kittyhawk A29-38 lost on operations on the 11th April 1942;

Flt Lt. Geoffrey Hubert Vincent 400866 RAAF and WO. John Pretty Bailey 4240 RAAF who were respectively the Pilot and Observer from 8 Sqn Beaufort A9-244 which was reported missing on operations on the 21st October 1943;

Fg Off. Ross Bryan O’Loghlen 400662 RAAF who was the Observer from 8 Sqn Beaufort A9-262 which was missing on operations over New Ireland/New Britain on the 4th December 1943.

The three Americans were from the USAAF, USNR and USN:

1st Lt. Phillip L. Bek, Silver Star (SS), DFC O-724280 USAAF who was the Navigator aboard B-17F 41-24454 lost on the 13th June 1942;

ENS. Philip Kirk Phillis O-251356 USNR and AAM2c. Paul Munroe Mannon 6603207 USN who were a 2nd Pilot and Gunner respectively from a VPB-52 "Black Cats" PBY-5A Catalina #8428 which was lost on the 20th November 1943.

The investigation team were of the opinion, in light of the discoveries that were made, that the total number of prisoners murdered at Matupi over the whole period must have been at least one hundred (100) and likely to be many more.

With one exception none of the Japanese directly responsible for the murders of Allied airmen in this area were brought to trial. These known criminals can be divided into various classes:

Died or killed in action before end of war;

Committed suicide to avoid arrest, e.g. Rear Admiral (Kaigun-shōshō) FUJITA who was responsible for the murder of Flt Lt. William Ellis Newton VC, 250748 RAAF and Rear Admiral (Kaigun-shōshō) KIYAMA who was responsible for some of the murders at Rabaul;

Because of the cunning with which the Japanese had covered their tracks sufficient evidence had not been obtained when investigations closed;

Criminals that were still alive and at large against whom sufficient evidence of guilt had been obtained.

(3) The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) at Dover AFB in Delaware was able to identify the remains of 2nd Lt. William Alfred Bujold in November 2006.

Above: Courtesy of the Sun Journal, dated 20th August 2007

On the morning of Friday 24th August 2007 2nd Lt. Bujold was laid to rest at the St. John’s Catholic Cemetery with full Military Honours at his parent’s grave.

(4) T/Sgt. William R. Moore (courtesy of The Courier News, dated 27th May 1943)

Burial details:

Above: Group burial grave marker for 2nd Lt. Saul Albert, 2nd Lt. William A. Bujold, 2nd Lt. Emil Gentry, Cpl. John L. Honold, 2nd Lt. Leon S. King, T/Sgt. William R. Moore (Courtesy of Eric Kreft – FindAGrave)

Capt. Joseph Woolley Geddes. Group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Plot 84, Grave 399. Born on the 25th September 1915 Preston, Idaho. Son of Joseph Arch (deceased in 1931) and Grace Hemenway (née Woolley) Geddes of Preston, Franklin, Idaho. Husband of Barbara (née Nelson) Geddes of Logan, Utah, USA.

2nd Lt. Leon Standish King. Group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Plot 84, Grave 399. Born on the 30th April 1917 in Medford, Massachusetts. Son of Patrick J. and Pearl L. (née Orne) King of Maldon, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA.

Above: Capt. Leslie William Neumann, Wall of the Missing (Courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission)

Capt. Leslie William Neumann. Silver Star (SS) with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters (2OLC), Distinguished Flying Medal (DFC), Purple Heart (PH). Manila American Cemetery, Wall of the Missing. (Date of death given as 8th January 1946). Born on the 25th December 1913 in Watson, Dawson, Montana. Son of John W. and Louise (née Petri – deceased in Jan 1917) Neumann of Gackle, Logan, North Dakota, USA.

2nd Lt. Saul Albert. Group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Plot 84, Grave 399. Born on the 20th April 1915 in Boston, Massachusetts. His Next of Kin was recorded as his sister Mrs. Martha Goldberg of Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA.

2nd Lt. William Alfred Bujold. Group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Plot 84, Grave 399. Born on the 21st November 1918 in Rumford, Oxford, Maine. Son of Charles Absolon and Ellen A. (née Hughes) Bujold of Rumford, Oxford, Maine, USA.

After his remains had been identified 2nd Lt. William Alfred Bujold was laid to rest at his parent’s grave at the St. Johns Cemetery in Rumford, Oxford County, Maine, USA.

Above family grave marker (Courtesy of and in anticipation from Lucy Morin – FindAGrave)

T/Sgt. William R. Moore. Group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Plot 84, Grave 399. Born in 1921 in Flagtown, New Jersey. Son of William and Ella Moore of Hillsborough, Somerset, New Jersey, USA.

2nd Lt. Emil Gentry. Group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Plot 84, Grave 399. Born on the 30th November 1918 in Carterville, Illinois. Son of Floyd and Caroline Gentry of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Husband of Elizabeth M. (née Lee) Gentry of Arizona, USA.

Above: S/Sgt. Ernest William Burnside, Wall of the Missing (Courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission)

S/Sgt. Ernest William Burnside. Silver Star (SS), Distinguished Flying Medal (DFC), Purple Heart (PH). Manila American Cemetery, Wall of the Missing. (Date of death given as 8th January 1946) Born on the 10th October 1919 in Alexander, West Virginia. Son of Stephen Guy Nathan and Rosa A. (née DeBarr) Burnside of Harmony, Pennsylvania, USA.

Above: S/Sgt. John Joseph Mulligan, Wall of the Missing (Courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission)

S/Sgt. John Joseph Mulligan. Purple Heart (PH). Manila American Cemetery, Wall of the Missing. (Date of death given as 8th January 1946). Born on the 11th June 1916 in Kingston, New York. Son of Rose Mulligan of Kingston, New York, USA.

Cpl. John Leonard Honold. Group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Plot 84, Grave 399. Born on the 28th September 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Son of Joseph Charles and Helen Eva (née Mohan) Honold of Conyngham, Columbia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Above: Pvt. Robert E. George, Wall of the Missing (Courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission)

Pvt. Robert E. George. Silver Star (SS). Manila American Cemetery, Wall of the Missing. (Date of death given as 8th January 1946) Born on the 12th December 1922 in Stark, Ohio. No further on-line information found

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew (Sep 2025).

Other sources listed below:

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt