Body found in Sierra Nevada glacier believed to be WWII airman

Body found in Sierra Nevada glacier believed to be WWII airman
Wednesday October 19, 2005
By JULIANA BARBASSA
Associated Press Writer

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) Two climbers on a Sierra Nevada glacier discovered an ice-encased body believed to be that of an airman whose plane crashed in 1942.

The man was wearing a World War II-era Army-issued parachute when his frozen head, shoulder and arm were spotted Sunday on 13,710-foot Mount Mendel in Kings Canyon National Park, park spokeswoman Alex Picavet said.

Park rangers and specialists camped on the remote mountainside in freezing weather for an excavation expected to take several days. The body was 80 percent encased in ice, Picavet said Wednesday.

``We're not going to go fast,'' she said. ``We want to preserve him as much as possible. He's pretty intact.''

The excavation crew included an expert from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, a military unit that identifies and recovers personnel who have been missing for decades.

Park officials believe the serviceman may have been part of the crew of an AT-7 navigational training plane that crashed on Nov. 18, 1942. The wreckage and four bodies were found in 1947 by a climber.

Some 88,000 Americans are missing in action from past wars, military officers said. Most of them 78,000 are from World War II.

The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command works on hundreds of cases a year, avehad not been approved a particularly offensive affront because Alogna used muscle from Providence.

``Everything you do, you're supposed to put on record, especially when you do things with other families,'' Megale told Farrington.

U.S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton scolded Alogna for not respecting the law at his age but said she could not justify leaving the child without a caregiver.

``It's a sad irony that keeps you out of prison, Mr. Alogna,'' Arterton said. ``But now you have the biggest responsibility of your life because you and you alone are going to raise Anthony. Just do it well.''

Megale was so upset by Alogna's power grab that he threatened to demote him to the rank of soldier, according to the transcripts. Megale then told Farrington he should ignore Alogna and make monthly protection payments to him.

Alogna's had asked for leniency because the extortion failed but prosecutors objected and Arterton rejected the argument.

The conversations recorded during that power struggle helped the FBI understand the hierarchy of the Mafia in Connecticut and became the cornerstone of an investigation that prosecutors said became the most significant assault on the region's Italian Mafia in more than a decade.

Megale, Alogna and many others were arrested last year after a three-year investigation. All, including Megale, have pleaded guilty and avoided having the tapes played at trial. Some transcripts were released this week.

Megale is due to be sentenced in December on racketeering and conspiracy charges.

Ellie