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Remains of MIA Naval Aviator Lt. Roy Bechtol Found on Remote Pacific Island After 60

"Where we go there are no hotels, no airline to whisk you off the island if you can't cut it." -- Dr. Thomas Arkle, Ph.D

As plumes of ashen smoke spewed 40,000 feet into the air causing hazardous breathing alerts 1,600 miles away in downtown Tokyo, a mere ten miles east, an international crew of nine WWII MIA experts crept past Anatahan Island, one in a string of sister islands in the Marianas archipelago, lying face down on the deck of a tiny fishing trawler crammed between their supplies. 

Marauder Rita Arkle holds up a piece of propeller from Lt. Bechtol's Hellcat fighter.

Crash Scene Expert confirms find; Moore’s Marauders erect a cross upon discovering Naval Aviator Lt. Roy Bechtol's remains.

Led by Kenneth Moore, the Marauders were headed 180 north, past the active volcano to a desolate former Japanese, island outpost.  With Christmas 2005 less than 3 weeks away, the Marauders were seeking to provide a rare and precious gift to a family they'd never met...the specific location of the remains of their loved one, an American serviceman who was declared MIA (missing in action) more than 60 years before, Lt. Roy A. Bechtol, of Lubbock, Texas. 

"Beck had seen a great deal of war in his last few days," wrote famed, Navy Admiral Bernard N. "Smoke" Strean, on June 27th,1944, then a Commander and Squadron Leader of "VF-1," a Hellcat fighter squadron stationed aboard the  aircraft carrier Yorktown. Lieutenant Bechtol,  the Oklahoma raised Lubbock transplant was Admiral Strean's former wingman. 

Together they flew the aptly named fighter "The Hellcat" that turned the tide of war against the Japanese. Beck had participated in six fighter sweeps and attacks on the Marianas, two in the Bonins, and (on June 19th, The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot) in which he shot down two Jap fighters for a total of four to his credit, and made a bombing run on the enemy fleet."

June 23rd,1944:

"We commenced our dive (Over Pagan Island) from around 14,000 feet," strafing and intending to drop a bomb at approximately 3,000 feet,"  wrote Admiral Strean. "Beck's plane was badly hit in the tail by Jap anti-aircraft and went straight into the ground.  At the speed we were flying the whole thing happened in an instant.  He was alongside and slightly behind me when it happened. The third pilot in the division, Jack Hankins, observed it all. There is no possibility of Beck having gotten out of the plane."

VF-1 "High Hatter" fighter squadron, following their aerial attack on the Japanese military compound on Pagan Island, in the Northern Mariana archipelago," said Marauder team physician Francois Claassens, MD.   

Here are former Hellcat fighter pilots, Jack Hankins, Walter Danielson. and Rudy Matz in October 2004 at the "Highhatter" Squadron reunion in San Diego, California.

These men captivated Marauder founder Moore (center) with their telling of how they lost one of their most respected squadron members – Ltnt. Roy Bechtol -  on the afternoon of June 23rd, 1944.

As a result, Moore swore to find their lost friend's crash site...and he did

Hellcat fighter pilots, Jack Hankins (far left), Walter Danielson (2d left), and Rudy Matz (far right) with Ken Moore (2d right)

The search for Bechtol's Hellcat fighter

After two extraordinarily hazardous search missions to remote Pagan Island, the primary crash site was located.  Marauder Gerry Flowers, a former Recon Marine, corporate pilot with 20 years of experience and a certified Crash Scene Investigator, provided positive confirmation that deposits inside the debris field of the aircraft and cockpit were indicative of human remains and consistent with a pilot who could not bail out of his crippled fighter plane.

Moore’s Marauders immediately consecrated the site with a cross, and informed the local Commonwwealth and U.S. authorities (JPAC) of the find. 

December '06 UPDATE: Family Still Waiting

With the Bechtol MIA discovery having now passed its first year anniversary, Lt. Roy Bechtol, a fallen American hero still lies on Pagan Island. The Marauders are handcuffed from retrieving his remains. Still worse, a subsequent expedition by the Marauders has shown signs of mass deterioration of the Bechtol crash site.

"Six months following the Bechtol discovery, upon returning to Pagan Island on an unrelated mission, several of us wanted to revisit the Bechtol grave marker to pay our respects.  Wild boar having propagated undeterred on the island since the war, had collected at the Bechtol crash site turning it into a deep wallow, scattering pieces of the downed aircraft. Using a satellite phone, my teammates and I immediately contacted the proper authorities, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Historic Preservation Office, and spoke directly with their chief administrator. We informed him that the crash site needed to be secured as soon as possible to avoid further deterioration...

From DPMI Annual Report 2003...

From a Founding Father...

The Marauders at the Vanguard:

"The first step in the accounting process is simply to inform the proper authorities of the find by saying, here it is, such-n-such missing plane is located right here and we believe remains are still present.  That first step is what the Marauders  presently do. We locate the possible MIA then report the find to DoD, JPAC, the family and local authorities.  JPAC, our government's forensic specialists, are a vital operation, staffed with the appropriate people of the highest caliber... 

The Marauders are currently seeking government authorization to further aid authorities in the recovery process. 

"We hope that one day authorities in the Marianas will come to understand our mission and work cooperatively along side us, as other municipalities have.  We also look forward to the day federal authorities will allow us to exhume the remains we find.  We have the personnel.  We have the  technology. 

What we lack is the authorization. The obstacles to obtaining that authorization lie within the immense military and civilian bureaucracy that  currently encumbers the recovery process. If our government is truly interested in accounting for America's missing, a means to expedite the process must be found. The Marauders can play a vital role in that means."

                                         ---Kenneth Moore, Marauder founder.

The Bechtol Family:

Grand nephew Greg Bechtol has been in ongoing contact with Moore and his team.  In December he wrote that Roy's surviving sister Mozelle, age 94, stands ready to donate a DNA sample to verify the discovery of her brother's remains. 

"It's quite normal that the remains be buried in Arlington National Cemetery which sounds great to me," Greg writes, "but Mozelle has already indicated that she wishes that the remains be buried alongside Roy's parents in Austin, Texas.  A grave marker has already been in place for Roy in Austin since 1966."

Let your voice be heard.

If "Money talks," then it's time for the American people to speak up ! The issue is our nation's missing servicemen.  The Marauders need your financial help to carry on their vitally important mission to locate these  fallen heroes.  Please pledge your support for the recovery of America's MIA's by making your donation to Moore's Marauders  today: 

"No loss is as painful to a family as that of a loved one who honored our Nation’s call to arms yet never returned home.  Do your part. Help the Marauders  "bring them home." 

--Bob Perry, donor (former L.A. Sheriff's Homocide Detective)

 The American pledge of support: 

"We  the people of the United States seek the recovery or fullest possible accounting of all Americans who died in defense of our country, no matter where, no matter when.  It is clear that our government cannot do this alone.  Therefore, I make this pledge and offer my support to the Marauder cause by making my donation of $__________ this ___day of _____, 2007. May the noble efforts of these outstanding men and women continue to bring joy and happiness to the families of those loved ones who sacrificed all for our way of life."

Finding lost WWII plane is Christmas gift to pilot's family
Saipan Tribune  by John Ravelo Reporter  December 26, 2005

Thank you letter from the Bechtol family

Click picture to enlarge