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thedrifter
01-10-09, 04:43 AM
Group wants to bring home remains of 300 missing WW II Marines, sailors
By C. Ron Allen | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
5:33 PM EST, January 9, 2009

The remains of 300 Marines and sailors killed during the World War II Battle of Tarawa are considered missing. A local nonprofit group wants to bring them home.

"It's a sense of patriotism," said Mark Noah, a commercial pilot and founder of History Flight, a Marathon-based nonprofit organization, which helped find 139 Marines in November after a decade of research. "This is an unfinished sense of duty. Many family of missing have contacted us and asked for assistance."

Seven of the still-missing Marines were from Florida; the closest being Fort Pierce.

History Flight has been offering public rides on restored World War II aircrafts to raise money to continue the search for more of the 78,000 people listed as missing in action on Tarawa and other Japanese islands.



The public can pay to take 15- 30- and 60-minute flights on a T-6 Texan plane today, Saturday and Sunday. History Flight also will return on Jan. 17 and 18. The T-6 was used to train fighter pilots at Lantana Airport during the war.

For more information, call 888-743-3311 or visit www.historyflight.com.

Ellie

thedrifter
01-10-09, 05:02 AM
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Group offers flights on vintage aircraft to raise money to find remains of servicemen
Group offers flights to raise money to find servicemen's remains

By C. Ron Allen

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

January 10, 2009

Lantana


The remains of hundreds of Marines and sailors killed during the World War II Battle of Tarawa are considered missing. A local nonprofit group says it found some of them and wants to help bring them home.

Last year, Mark Noah and a team of researchers visited Tarawa, an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, to find the remains of hundreds of servicemen killed there.

They found thickly settled communities and conditions they deemed unfit for the resting place of the nation's war heroes.

"It's not like these are graveyards that are out there with crosses on them," said Noah, founder of History Flight, a Marathon-based nonprofit organization that helped find the graves of 139 Marines in November. "It's just unbelievable to think that all those people are underneath the ground there."

The group wants to continue searching for more of the 78,000 people listed as missing in action on the Pacific islands. The two-year project cost $90,000. To raise money, the organization offers public flights in restored World War II aircraft.

The public can pay to take 15-, 30- and 60-minute flights on a T-6 Texan plane today and Sunday from the Lantana Airport. Flights, which start at $245, will also be available Jan. 17 and 18.

The 2008 Barnstormer Tour is scheduled to be in parts of Miami-Dade County and other cities across Florida through April.

No appearances are scheduled for Broward County because all the airports are too busy, said Noah, a commercial pilot.

On Friday, Harry Morris, of Greenacres, rolled the T-6 Texan amid the buzz of its propeller and the clouds high above the Everglades. He made a hard right peel to simulate a dive-bomb move, then performed a full 360-degree roll.

"It was wonderful. Absolutely stellar," the semi-retired architect, 69, said of his one-hour ride. "That was quite a thrill — to do all sorts of acrobatics."

Morris said he wanted to support what he considers a worthy cause.

"Searching for missing personnel from World War II is a [difficult task] and I am glad to take part in an effort to help out that cause," said Morris, whose father was a B-29 pilot during the war.

C. Ron Allen can be reached at crallen@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6611.

Want to fly?
Fundraising flights start at $245. For more information, go to historyflight.com or call 1-888-743-3311.

Ellie