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Archive Report: US Forces
1941 - 1945

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

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10th Air Force
25.10.1944 71st Liaison Squadron, L-5 Sentinel 42-98863, S/Sgt. Jack R. Sheets

Operation: Ferry Passenger and Cargo, Burma (Myanmar)

Date: 25th October 1944 (Tuesday)

Unit No: 71st Liaison Squadron, 1st Reconnaissance Group, 10th Air Force

Type: L-5 Sentinel

Serial No: 42-98863

Code: Unknown

Base: Myitkyina, Burma (Myanmar)

Location: SW of Indawgi Lake, Burma (Myanmar)

Pilot: S/Sgt. Jack Raymond Alfred Sheets 13067183 AAF Age 24 PoW */DED **/MiA

Passenger: 1st/Sgt. Karl Alexander Snyder 35722535 CWS Age 32. PoW *

* Burma #5 (Moulmein & Rangoon Jail)

** DED = Declared dead

Above: Courtesy of Harrisburg Telegraph, 9th February 1943

REASON FOR LOSS:

A report by Operations Officer, 1st Lt. George R. Uerlings O-674910, reported that the aircraft was last spotted at 17:10 hours on the 25th October 1944, near Maingnyaung, SW of Indawgi Lake by a member of the OSS Detachment 101 and was on a course to Nawngpu-Awng, Burma. Further circumstances that caused the aircraft to be missing were not available.

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Detachment 101 was the first American unit ever assembled to conduct guerrilla warfare, espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines in the China-Burma-India Theatre of Operations in WW2.

The Air Jungle Rescue Unit (AJRU) employed one of their a B-25s on the search and had flown over the area between where the plane was last sighted and its intended destination for five hours on the 27th October 1944. Additionally the 101 Detachment had despatched three patrols of natives in the area searching from the ground.

The Air Jungle Rescue Agency (AJRA)and its subsidiary the Air Jungle Rescue Unit (AJRU) were attached to the Eastern Air Command of the 10th Army Air Force in the China-Burma-India Theatre of Operations.

The 71st Liaison Squadron sent an L-5 Sentinel on the 27th October 1944, over the usual course that was flown to Nawngpu-Awng but the results were nil inasmuch as the distance involved leaves very little gasoline to be used in searching, and then be able to return to a station where gasoline can be obtained. The search was continued by the AJRU but no further information was forthcoming.

Nawngpu-Awng is some 78 miles to the WSW Indawgi Lake.

According to information received from OSS Detachment 101, the plane was on a special mission from their Headquarters, carrying one passenger, 1st/Sgt. Karl A. Snyder CWS, who was attached to Northern Combat Area Command. Further details of the mission was not provided other than the aircraft was to land at Nawngpu-Awng, Burma.

CWS = Chemical Warfare Service US Army

Later information confirmed that S/Sgt. Sheets and 1st/Sgt. Snyder had been captured and were eventually incarcerated at the Burma #5 (Moulmein & Rangoon Jail).

(1) 1st/Sgt. Snyder reported that Sgt. Sheets died in Rangoon Jail on the 19th November 1944, of either acute indigestion or appendicitis as he had been constipated for 12 days. When he saw him the night before he died he told him that he did not feel very well and felt awful. 1st/Sgt. Snyder did not see his body the next morning after he died, but Capt. John Hunt helped put him in a casket. The Japanese did not provide him with any medical attention.

Capt. John H. Hunt O-429047 was a pilot serving with the 88th Fighter Squadron, 80th Fighter Group. He baled out of his P-40N 42-105259 on the 22nd December 1943.

A British Military Court convened in Rangoon, Burma between the 6th and 19th June 1946 determined that his death was deemed to be a war crime.

Four (4) members of the Imperial Japanese Army were charged with committing a war crime in that they, at the New Law Courts Jail Annex, Rangoon, Burma, between the 1st March 1944 and 1st May 1945 when members of the Staff of the Jail and were responsible for the well-being of the prisoners in custody there, in violation of the laws and usages of war, were together concerned as parties to the ill-treatment resulting in the deaths of seventeen (17) and other American PoW, and physical suffering to other American PoW in custody at the jail.

The four (4) accused were:

Captain (Rikugun-tai-i) TAZUMI Motozo;

1st Lieutenant (Rikugun-Chūi) ONISHI Akio;

Sergeant Major (Rikugun-Sōchō) UENO Kiyoshi;

Superior Private (Rikugun-Jōtō-Hei) UENO Koigetsu.

Note: the Japanese word Rikugun preceding a rank indicates that it relates to the army.

Capt. TAZUMI was the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Futo Buntai prison, also known as the New Law Courts Jail Annex, from 15th March 1944 until May 1944. Lt. ONISHI was the Medical Officer (MO) at the Jail from the 4th May 1944 to the 15th April 1945.

Sgt Maj. UENO was the Quartermaster in change of purchasing food and drawing rations for the entire personnel for the Jail from March 1944 until the evacuation on or about the 25th April 1945.

Sup Pvt. UENO was a member of the guard at the Jail from the 25th April 1943 to 10th October 1944.

During the period April 1943 to May 1945 approximately one-hundred (100) American PoWs were incarcerated in the Annex where they were kept in confinement under harsh and oppressive regulations without proper or adequate food, covering, sanitation facilities and medical attention. During this time the PoWs were subjected to brutal beatings and maltreatment by members of the staff of the jail and in particular by Sup Pvt. UENO.

The treatment of the PoWs directly contributed the deaths of the following seventeen (17) named Americans, and other PoWs:

Sgt. Norman E. Albinson, Sgt. John E. Leisure, Cpl. Julius F. Yackie, T/Sgt. Charles A. Pittard, S/Sgt. Jack R. Sheets, 1st Lt. Robert D. Drummey, 1st Lt. Burdette C. Goodrich, Capt. Armin J. Ortmeyer, 2nd Lt. Joseph G. Rich, 2nd Lt. Burdette H. Baker, 1st Lt. James M. Grey, S/Sgt. Frank Rodriguez, Capt. Wayne R. Westberg, 2nd Lt. Everitt E. Briggs Jr., 1st Lt. Paul E. Almand, FO. Gene Gambale, Sgt. J. Brown. (No corroborated information for a US airman by this name has been found).

The court found TAZUMI guilty of the charge except in the case of the deaths of the seventeen (17) named Americans and other PoWs.

ONISHI was found guilty of the ill-treatment resulting in the death of 1st Lt. Robert D. Drummey and contributing to the deaths of Sgt. Norman E. Albinson, 1st Lt. Burdette C. Goodrich, Capt. Armin J. Ortmeyer, 2nd Lt. Joseph G. Rich, 2nd Lt. Burdette H. Baker, 1st Lt. James M. Grey, S/Sgt. Frank Rodriguez, 2nd Lt. Everitt E. Briggs Jr., 1st Lt. Paul E. Almand and Sgt. J. Brown.

Sgt Maj. UENO and Sup Pvt. UENO were found guilty of the charge except in the case of the deaths of the seventeen (17) named Americans and other PoWs.

The court sentenced TAZUMI, UENO Kiyoshi and UENO Koigetsu to 7 years, 3 years and 15 years imprisonment respectively.

ONISHI was sentence to death, however, upon review on the 14th March 1947 the sentence of death was commuted to imprisonment for life.

The remains of S/Sgt. Sheets were recovered by the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS). On the 17th May 1946 his remains were loaded aboard C-47B 43-48308 of the 1304th AAF Base Unit to be transported from Mingaladon in Rangoon to Barrackpore in India. The aircraft failed to arrive at the ETA and despite an extensive air search no trace of any wreckage on land or sea was found and the aircraft, crew, passengers and the remains of these five (5) airmen along with another thirty-seven (37) are still missing to this day.

Burial Details

Above: S/Sgt Jack R. Sheets, Manila American Cemetery, Walls of the Missing (Courtesy of the ABMC)

S/Sgt. Jack Raymond Alfred Sheets. Air Medal (AM), Purple Heart (PH). Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery. Born on the 16th July 1920 in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. Son of George Raymond and Helen Margaret (née Kumer) Sheets of Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to this crew and their families (Jan 2025).

Other sources listed below:

RS 16.01.2025 - Initial Upload

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Acknowledgments: Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and Captain François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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