‘Seven U.S.N. Airmen’
A gravesite containing the remains of the crew of a plane lost over Kiska Island during World War II originally was identified with a simple wooden marker but later was lost.

The remains of Seaman 2nd Class Dee Hall, originally buried with the rest of his crew in a common grave on the Alaskan island where their plane crashed during World War II, were thought to be lost forever. But more than 60 years later, on Dec. 15, 2005, Hall, of Syra, Okla., was buried at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.

Hall was one of seven crew members aboard a U.S. Navy PBY-5 Catalina that took off from Kodiak Island, Alaska, June 14, 1942, to attack Japanese targets in Kiska Harbor, Alaska. After the crew encountered inclement weather and heavy Japanese antiaircraft fire near the target, their plane crashed on the Japanese-held Kiska Island. In August 1943, the United States retook Kiska Island from the Japanese, and wreckage of the plane was found on the side of Kiska volcano. The remains of the crew were buried in a common grave marked “Seven U.S.N. Airmen” with a wooden marker. Following the war, attempts to locate the common grave were unsuccessful.

Then, in 2002, a wildlife biologist notified DoD’s POW/Missing Personnel Office that he had found the wreckage of a World War II aircraft on the Kiska volcano. The site was excavated by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which found debris from Hall’s plane, the crew’s remains, and the wooden marker. Subsequent analysis led to the identification of all seven crew members.

Military Disney

From Donald Duck to Jiminy Cricket, a special exhibit that showcases more than 50 of Walt Disney’s original World War II insignia designs opened recently at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force located in Dayton, Ohio.

During World War II, the Disney Studio set up a special five-man crew of artists to respond to requests by the military and war industry to use Disney characters in unit insignia. The Disney Studio created 1,200 different insignia for bombing squadrons, naval vessels, training schools, chaplains’ corps, women’s units, and even Allied units. Of those, Donald Duck appeared in more than 200 designs.

The exhibit also includes examples of Disney-influenced materials, from World War II flight jackets with Disney-designed insignia to nose-art sections from six B-52G Stratofortresses flown in Desert Storm. The exhibit will run through June 11, and admission is free.