Search for crash site of Arnold, Keating, White, and Smith

Eyewitnesses: On December 30, 1943 two American B-25s bombers took off from the Suichuan airbase ...

On December 30, 1943 two American B-25s bombers took off from the Suichuan airbase (Jiangxi province) and proceeded north to search the Yangtze (Changjiang) river for Japanese targets of opportunity. Finding a Japanese gunboad on the river near Anqing city (Anking) in Anhui province, the first B-25 made an attack run on the ship, then the second plane followed, but under heavy fire, it crashed into the muddy bank not too far from the Japanese vessel, and exploded. It was 8:50 am. The remains of the four servicemen were never recovered after the war, and the reports given by the crew of the other B-25 indicate very clearly that recovery of remains was impossible given the violence of the crash. The young men lost were:

William C. Arnold (Indiana), 2nd Lt., pilot

Harland B. Keating (Delaware county, PA), 1st Lt., co-pilot, [more info]

William H.C. White (South Carolina), 1st Lt., Bomber-navigator

Lynnwood W. Smith (Hanover, PA), Sgt., Engineer-gunner [more info]

Remembering Shared Honor (RSH), while working to preserve the history of these four men, decided to go to the site to recover any additional details that local people might know, and to personally remember and honor these men. After talking with the family of Lynnwood Smith, and based on declassified U.S. Government reports [MACR 1631], RSH contacted local officials and media in Anqing city, and with their tremendous encouragement, assistance, and friendship, Patrick Lucas of RSH arrived in Anqing on November 9, 2007. The next day, Mr. Lucas, along with several members of the local media, and Mr. Liu, a historian with the Anqing city government, embarked on a search for the crash site.

Since airplane wreckage does not survive in densely populated China, where any remains that people find a quickly recycled, the search is based on oral accounts of local people who might have seen the crash or its aftermath--thus this is a search for people in their late 70s to 80s who have memories of the event.

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