US army men in Arunachal to investigate WW II wreckage

Official sources said on Friday that a team from the US Joint Prisoners of War/Missing In Action Accounting Command (JPAC) arrived on June 24 on a coordination mission for the search on humanitarian grounds.

The team comprised Lt Col Peter Huddle, Lt Col Bruce E Cox, Maj Craig Tippins, Maj William J Taylor and Capt Joshua K Marcus.

Earlier in March, US Consul General Henry V Jardine had visited the state following reports of discovery of wreckage of US fighter planes in several parts of the state including the state capital.

At least eight wreckages were found by a private US investigator Clayton Kuhles and local tour operator Oken Tayeng.

The joint Indian and US military teams will look for the remains of the lost men and the flying machines in thick jungles of the hilly border state, close to China-Burma-India theatre of WW-II.

The fighter planes were engaged in maintaining supply lines to the Allied Forces fighting against Japan six decades ago.

In an apparent bid to cross the Himalayas at least 430 planes along with their crew went missing in the inaccessible dense forest of the then North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA).