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Tonight, the search for missing World War II heroes continues.

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February 1944, if you're here, you'd probably be running for cover.

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That's when the U.S. launched a major carrier-borne attack.

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On a group of remote Pacific islands, an eyewitness reveals buried secrets.

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After they tied them, he heard the explosion. The man were dead.

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Our team explores in the jungle.

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There could be bones, dog tags, anything.

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Hey guys, come here. Look at this.

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And we scan the ocean floor.

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Wow. That's a plane for sure.

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To find those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

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Look at this. An iconic World War II plane. This is unbelievable. I'm in shock.

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My name is Josh Gates.

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Hello.

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Explorer.

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Here goes nothing.

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Adventurer.

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Woo-hoo-hoo.

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Oh, that's a long way down.

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And a guy who ends up in some very strange situations.

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I'm alive for now.

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With a degree in archaeology and a passion for the unexplained, I travel to the ends of the earth,

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investigating the greatest legends in history.

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Ready to rock and roll.

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This is Expedition Unknown.

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Collected a lot of data.

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That's the big question. You got data.

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Yeah, yeah. Good data. It looks really clean.

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Okay. So, what's in it?

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That's a plane.

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It's a lot like a plane.

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That's a plane. For sure, right?

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Could this be the plane that we're looking for here?

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It's in the right area.

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We are in the right spot and we can dive that.

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We can dive that tomorrow.

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I'm in Chuk Micronesia, reviewing sonar data with Project Recover,

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a group of scientists and historians dedicated to finding missing American servicemen.

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And their current mission is daunting.

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In the middle of the vast Pacific, more than 3,600 miles west of Hawaii sits the islands of Chuk,

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once known as Truck Lagoon.

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This remote atoll shelters 16 islands and more than 800 square miles of water,

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an area the size of Rhode Island.

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During World War II, Truck was Japan's biggest naval base in the Pacific,

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with five airfields defending as many as 1,000 ships.

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It was their Pearl Harbor in more ways than one.

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To defeat Imperial Japan, we first needed to neutralize Truck.

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In February of 1944, the U.S. Navy launched Operation Hailstone,

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one of the largest aircraft carrier task forces ever assembled, descended on Truck Lagoon,

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and our war planes obliterated the island's stronghold.

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But 200 American airmen paid the ultimate price,

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and 42 of their planes are still lost somewhere in the lagoon.

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Eight decades later, and no American plane wreck has ever been found here,

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which is why this sonar hit is so exciting.

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So whatever that is, nobody's been down there to look at it.

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Not in 80 years.

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Wow.

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That's awesome.

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The next day, we take to the stormy waters to investigate the coordinates of the target.

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Leading the charge is Project Recover co-founder Mark Moline,

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as well as lead historian Colin Colborne and archaeologist Dan Davis.

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We motor out 14 miles from the port of the island,

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and we're going to take a look at the location of the ship.

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It's a soggy ride, but it will take more than a little rain to deter our efforts.

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Ooh, it's coming in. Nobody said it was going to be easy or dry.

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And we're going to take a look at the location of the ship.

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We're going to take a look at the location of the ship.

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We're going to take a look at the location of the ship.

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We're going to take a look at the location of the ship.

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Ooh, it's coming in. Nobody said it was going to be easy or dry.

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As to the identity of the plane-shaped sonar hit we're chasing, we may have a clue.

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Previously, a local tipped us off to a family story

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that a downed airman washed ashore on nearby Fanupungus Island shortly after Operation Hailstone.

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So your grandfather was able to protect this guy.

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What about a name? What did your grandfather call him?

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The name of the airman was Frederick.

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Frederick? Oh my God.

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Is there a Frederick? Yes, there is definitely a Frederick.

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There is. Oh yes.

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Among the missing.

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Actually, it's an Avenger. It's a three crewman torpedo bomber.

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So that means that in this strait between these two islands there may be an Avenger and two crewmen.

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Our subsequent sonar scan of the area revealed the undeniable signature of a plane.

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If it is an Avenger, then Frederick's crew, Radio Men Stanley S Stump

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pilot Newton B. Birx may still be inside.

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Now we need to position ourselves exactly over the coordinates of the target to investigate with our own eyes.

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There we go. 300 feet.

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The team readies a shot line, a weighted rope that will guide us down to the wreck.

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50, 40, 30, 20, throw it.

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Okay, here we go guys. Are you ready?

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Okay, let's head down the line and see if we can find this thing. Sounds good Josh.

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The object sits in over 100 feet of water, so we'll need to find it quickly to avoid risking decompression sickness,

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a potentially deadly condition caused by a buildup of nitrogen which can emerge as bubbles in the bloodstream.

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Bottom is coming into view. We're at about 80 feet.

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Mark, I don't see this thing, do you?

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Based on the GPS tag, I think we need to go west.

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Alright, let's swim west. Let's see if it's there. We gotta be quick.

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Hold on, I see something. There's a dark mass on the bottom here. I think we got something.

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That's a plane! That's definitely a plane, Josh.

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The wreck is inverted, but the preservation is stunning.

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Despite resting upside down on the sea floor, she almost looks like she could take off.

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Alright, let's figure out what this thing is. Let's start at the propeller and go back on the plane.

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Okay, here we go. The nose comes gone, but the blades are still attached.

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The blades are attached, but they're bent. You think that's from the impact on the water?

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Yeah, this is the best we can ever power when it's in the water.

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Diger stop sider, you see anything that indicates whether it's an American aircraft or a Japanese over.

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Let me get a light in here.

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Engines are like fingerprints that can help ID the make and model of a plane.

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We just need to look beneath the protective engine cover.

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Calling is still on, but underneath you can see it just as clear as day.

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Radial engine for sure, just like on an adventure.

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Stop side copy, radial engine, that looks good for American.

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The TBM Avenger engine has 14 cylinders radiating outward, like spokes on a wheel.

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But so do other planes that saw action in Halestone, including the American F4F Hellcat

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and the Japanese Zero.

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We continue to look for identifying features, working our way down the fuselage.

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Josh, I can see a little bit into the cockpit area here. Where did you have to look?

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Let me get my light in there.

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Look at this. I can see an instrument of some kind in here, part of the framing.

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I think that's the back of the seat. Oh my word. The rest of the cockpit is buried.

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But what I don't see tells us more. There's only room here for one seat.

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This was the cockpit of a fighter, not a larger three-man torpedo bomber.

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We can rule out Frederick's Avenger, but this mystery plane is still a major discovery.

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Do you think the pilot is still here?

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It's a good chance he's still in the plane. Wow, that is haunting.

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This is a solemn sight to be treated with deep respect.

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We move around the plane carefully to not disturb any of the wreckage which is frozen in time.

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Mark, where are the wheels on this thing?

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They're folded in toward the engine. See right here?

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Oh, there are the tires. Got it.

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So the wheels fold in toward the center of the plane.

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Yeah, that's right. Let's take a look at the wings.

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Josh, look at the angle of the flaps here.

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The plane's upside down so those flaps are actually pointed down, right?

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Yeah, it's like the pilot was trying to slow down the plane.

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It's amazing how this wreckage tells a story.

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You really get a sense of the last moments here just looking at the position to the machinery.

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A picture of the crash begins to emerge.

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The pilot, likely taking heavy fire, tried to slow the plane just before impact.

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And as each new forensic detail comes into focus, so does the identity of the mystery craft.

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Coming off the wing here. This is the machine gun, yes?

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Yeah, Josh, that looks like the machine gun.

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That's incredible. Look at that thing. Still in place, still protruding out from the wing.

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Now there's a flare on the end of the machine gun here.

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The driver's topside.

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A flare in the machine gun sounds like it could be Japanese. Over.

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I think I know what this plane is.

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I think we got a Japanese zero here. This is the zero.

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It is. An iconic World War II plane.

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The Type 99 machine gun on the wing with its signature flared barrel is conclusive.

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There is no question that this is a Mitsubishi A6M-0.

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The zero was the preeminent fighter plane at the beginning of the war.

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A lethal machine feared for its range and maneuverability.

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79 zeros were among the Japanese force that attacked Pearl Harbor.

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With this wreck now ID'd and photographed, we make our way topside.

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Really incredible, huh?

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That was amazing. Stunning.

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To just see an entire plane just laid out like that.

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It was beautiful. It really was. Eerie but beautiful.

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Nobody has seen that. Yeah. Until us. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing.

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It just shows you how much there is in this lagoon that's still undiscovered.

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Absolutely. Another piece of the puzzle.

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We will deliver all of our data on the newly discovered zero to the Japanese embassy.

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They may be able to identify the pilot and recover any remains.

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The airman inside was our enemy, but he was also a soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice for his nation.

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And one who may have family seeking closure.

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The next morning I'm back on the water to continue the search for MIAs

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with project recover historian Colin Colborne, archaeologist Dan Davis,

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and local investigator Mason Fritz. But today's mission is a bit different.

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We're going to be heading over to Tunawas. And in World War II the island was called Dublon.

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And what was Dublon's function during the war?

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It was the headquarters of the Japanese fleet. It was the administration center.

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There were multiple hospitals on the island. It was the center of gravity for the Japanese in World War II.

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What are we looking for there?

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We're looking for American POWs who were executed on Dublon during World War II.

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After the war, U.S. investigators heard rumors of POWs being killed on Dublon.

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But they couldn't elicit a single statement from anyone about wrongdoing on the island.

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That is, until we sent a Korean-American sailor undercover.

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His name was Da Young Park, and he exposed harrowing stories of torture and executions of American prisoners.

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Behind these shocking crimes was Hiroshi Iwanami, the commanding officer in charge of the military hospital on Dublon.

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Thanks to the intel Park uncovered, Iwanami was tried and convicted of war crimes in 1949.

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Any idea how many Americans were killed on the island?

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Investigators after the war added up to 23 Americans.

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That have never been found?

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That have never been found.

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We don't know their names, but they were executed on the island.

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How do we figure out where these POWs were executed or where they're buried?

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Well, Josh, I found an eyewitness.

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You found an eyewitness?

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Yes.

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A living eyewitness?

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Yes.

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Well, Josh, I found an eyewitness.

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You found an eyewitness?

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Yes.

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A living eyewitness?

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Yes.

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I'm in Truck Lagoon in Micronesia, working with the team from Project Recover, as they hunt down information that could lead to the lost location of executed American POWs on the island of Tonawas, once known as Dublon.

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But to hear a story from an actual eyewitness alive during World War II, we need to begin halfway across the atoll on the small island known as Eten.

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Today, deeply overgrown.

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Only an old Japanese dock jutting out of the jungle hints at what was once here.

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Josh, I'm going to show you something here.

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Take a look at what's under your feet.

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Concrete?

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Here?

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All over the island.

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This was all concrete?

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This was all concrete.

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Today, it looks like pure wilderness, but there's a reason this corner of the island is so squared off.

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It was terraformed.

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80 years ago, the Japanese turned Eten into an aircraft carrier-shaped island, with nearly every square inch coated in concrete.

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Is there any infrastructure left or just the remains of the runaway?

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Oh, no.

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There's still something here.

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It's a little ways away.

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Well, I'll take you to it.

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Yeah.

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Let's see what's here.

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You know, when the Japanese were here, there wasn't a tree on the island.

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Literally?

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Not one tree.

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Wow.

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In terms of POWs, some captured soldiers were brought and processed here, and while it may seem that nothing remains, Eten still hides its secrets.

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What is this?

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The Japanese got bombed almost every single day, so they had to find a safe way to move around.

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Tunnels?

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Tunnels inside the mountain.

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You got a light?

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Of course you do.

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After you.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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All right, here we go.

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Wow.

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How far back does this go?

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Josh, there's a maze of these tunnels all throughout the mountain.

236
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:38,000
Irreally preserved, as though Japanese troops just left, it is a claustrophobic and miserably hot labyrinth.

237
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:41,000
Okay, we got a junction.

238
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,000
Left?

239
00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:44,000
I think it's right.

240
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:45,000
Well, as long as you think.

241
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:46,000
Let's do it.

242
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:54,000
We emerge near an iri and massive concrete fortress.

243
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:58,000
This is crazy.

244
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,000
Yeah, Josh, this is the radio communications center.

245
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,000
This is the air traffic control for Truck Lagoon.

246
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:12,000
This building was the nerve center of the Japanese operation in Truck, which is why its walls are four feet thick in some places.

247
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:18,000
Evidence of Operation Hailstone's bombing campaign can be seen everywhere you look.

248
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,000
Prisoners of war that were processed through Etan Island weren't kept here, though.

249
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,000
There was another destiny for them.

250
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:36,000
We return to the boat and follow the trail of the POWs across the lagoon, past dangerously shallow reefs.

251
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:45,000
Our destination is another island, known today as Tonowass, where an eyewitness may be able to identify a site where American POWs were executed.

252
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,000
Josh, that's Tonowass right there.

253
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:48,000
Right ahead of us.

254
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:49,000
That's it.

255
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,000
Okay, that is an imposing looking island.

256
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:57,000
From afar, it looks like the kind of place King Kong would call home.

257
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,000
But up close, Tonowass reveals herself.

258
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:07,000
Dotted with simple structures, the island is home to a few thousand people, making it a little bit more difficult to find.

259
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,000
But it's not a place where you can't find a place.

260
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,000
In the distance, Tonowass reveals herself.

261
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:20,000
Dotted with simple structures, the island is home to a few thousand people, making new lives amidst the remnants of war.

262
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,000
Some villagers live in old Japanese barracks.

263
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,000
Even the bell at the local church is a recycled cannon.

264
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:37,000
We hike inland, and soon, spine-tingling ruins come into view.

265
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:46,000
The ghostly buildings are stairs to nowhere, and the foundations of an old hospital.

266
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:51,000
And it's here that we meet Seiji Konic, who witnessed the horrors of war firsthand.

267
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,000
Josh, I want you to meet Seiji.

268
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,000
Seiji, very nice to meet you.

269
00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:00,000
He's a witness to the killing of the Americans here in this area.

270
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:04,000
Seiji, you must have been very, very young during the war, yes?

271
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,000
Not a fanciall war one.

272
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,000
Yes, I was six years old.

273
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,000
Can he describe what he saw here?

274
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,000
He saw an American plane sat down.

275
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:31,000
The pilots built out of it, parachuted out, and they could see the plane when all the way out and landed somewhere out on the reef.

276
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,000
They were brought to the naval hospital here.

277
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,000
And so what ultimately happened to them?

278
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:46,000
They were killed.

279
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:47,000
They were killed.

280
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,000
And where did that happen? Do you remember?

281
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,000
It's up in the hill.

282
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,000
Can you take us there?

283
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:55,000
Yes.

284
00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:01,000
Seiji leads us through the sweltering jungle to an area behind the ruined hospital grounds.

285
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,000
While his steps may be slow, he never wavers in where he's going.

286
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,000
Right in this area.

287
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:08,000
This is the spot?

288
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,000
Yes, this is the place.

289
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:14,000
Tell us exactly what you saw, what you heard, what happened here.

290
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,000
Seiji, you were very good for our reef.

291
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,000
They brought him walking over.

292
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,000
And then they tie him up.

293
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,000
After they tied him, he left walking down the road.

294
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,000
He heard the explosion.

295
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,000
When you say explosion, do you mean gunfire?

296
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,000
It's an explosion of dynamite.

297
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,000
The men were dynamite?

298
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000
Yes, they did.

299
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:39,000
Wow.

300
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,000
It is an act of unimaginable horror.

301
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,000
The American army was in the middle of the war.

302
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:46,000
They did.

303
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:47,000
Wow.

304
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,000
It is an act of unimaginable horror.

305
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:55,000
The American airmen were bound, marched behind the hospital and forced to their knees,

306
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,000
as the Japanese soldiers rigged the explosives.

307
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:14,000
Hearing the detonation, six-year-old Seiji returned to a traumatic scene of carnage he would never forget.

308
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,000
When he came up the hill, the men were dead.

309
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:22,000
They just went and buried them right in this area right here.

310
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:23,000
Right on the site?

311
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:24,000
Yeah.

312
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:29,000
Despite covering their tracks by disposing of the dead, after the war, the truth emerged.

313
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,000
19 soldiers were convicted of war crimes committed in truck.

314
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:38,000
Surgeon Captain Hiroshi Iwanami, who ran the hospital, received the death penalty

315
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:43,000
for ordering this and other sadistic experiments.

316
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,000
So Seiji, can you show us exactly where that happened, where you saw the men sitting

317
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,000
and then where they might have dug a hole?

318
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:57,000
Yes, he remembered that it was next to that mango tree because that mango tree was already there.

319
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,000
About in here?

320
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,000
Yes, in this area.

321
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,000
Seiji, thank you very much.

322
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:09,000
You're welcome.

323
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:16,000
Mason helps Seiji home while we prepare to search for any evidence of the executed airman.

324
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:21,000
Dan and Colin prepare a test pit at the foot of the mango tree Seiji pointed out.

325
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:25,000
They start by gritting out the area and then we dig.

326
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,000
How far down do you think you need to go?

327
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:32,000
Well, the war crimes, trials revealed that they were digging pits three to four feet deep or deeper.

328
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:33,000
Yikes.

329
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,000
There could be anything around here, you know?

330
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:41,000
There could be bones, uniform buttons, dog tags, anything, I guess, scattered around here.

331
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:42,000
Exactly right.

332
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:52,000
While Colin and Dan expand the test pit, I start scanning the surrounding area with a metal detector.

333
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,000
I'm going to hit in here.

334
00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:02,000
Strong hit in here.

335
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,000
Thin, thin sheet of metal.

336
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,000
I mean, this could be part of a roof or anything, right?

337
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:13,000
Yeah, I'd say so.

338
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:19,000
As the pit slowly grows, my metal detector keeps sounding off.

339
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:24,000
Ooh, something there.

340
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:31,000
Strong hit here.

341
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,000
Hey guys, you need any AA batteries?

342
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:41,000
Soon I might actually need a new battery because with every sweep, we find more metal.

343
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:46,000
Okay, I'm going to hit here.

344
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,000
Yep, something.

345
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:53,000
Stand by.

346
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,000
It's just like there's tiny pieces of metal in the soil.

347
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,000
There's almost like scrap metal everywhere here.

348
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,000
You think about all the troops that were here, all the activity, the movement here.

349
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,000
I mean, it could be from anything.

350
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:21,000
Still, we press on in the jungle heat, hoping for some evidence of the POWs who perished here.

351
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:32,000
What is that?

352
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000
Hey guys.

353
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,000
Oh my.

354
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:38,000
Guys?

355
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,000
Hey guys, come here.

356
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,000
Look at this.

357
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,000
Oh, it's burned.

358
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:51,000
Look at this.

359
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:56,000
Oh, it's burned.

360
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,000
Old, old machete.

361
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:03,000
Handle, which would have been wood, is completely rotted out.

362
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,000
But that, that is really cool.

363
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,000
Look at that.

364
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:11,000
That is an artifact of the war.

365
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,000
We're investigating the ruins of a Japanese naval hospital on the island of Tonowas,

366
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:25,000
where a local witnessed the brutal execution of two American POWs by dynamite.

367
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,000
You could really imagine this being connected to the site back in World War II.

368
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,000
This could be from a Japanese soldier.

369
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,000
That's kind of spooky just seeing that, isn't it?

370
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,000
It's haunting in the sense that we're finding a long-edged weapon at an execution site.

371
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:38,000
Right.

372
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,000
I keep thinking about these two guys.

373
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:47,000
The fact that their stories almost vanished into thin air.

374
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:54,000
It's just this tiny thread of this eyewitness who's kind of brought some attention to this place that we're standing,

375
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,000
which otherwise would have just been totally reclaimed by the jungle.

376
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,000
This project is about memory.

377
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,000
This is about keeping those memories alive.

378
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:08,000
We don't know the names of these guys, but they died here in service to our country, and we have to keep looking for them.

379
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:13,000
That's right.

380
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:21,000
We continue searching until late in the day, and then we head back to the boat to steam to Project Recovers headquarters.

381
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:38,000
Today was a powerful reminder that sharing these stories is what this mission is really about, so that our nation's heroes are not forgotten.

382
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,000
The next day, we're back on the water.

383
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:49,000
In 2019, Project Recover conducted their first search for American MIAs in truck lagoon.

384
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:57,000
Using sonar-equipped AUVs or autonomous underwater vehicles, they mapped the sea floor between several islands in the lagoon.

385
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:03,000
But then the pandemic hit, and Micronesia was put on COVID lockdown.

386
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,000
Now we're finishing the work they started.

387
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,000
We've already investigated two targets.

388
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:15,000
We discovered an anchor, likely cut from a fleeing Japanese ship and a mooring buoy.

389
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:19,000
Now we turn our attention to two additional targets.

390
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,000
This is the first target we're going to go through, and you can see the shadows.

391
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,000
Yeah, for sure.

392
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:30,000
This definitely looks man-made. It has very distinct angles to it, and the whole pile is about 30 feet.

393
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:31,000
Okay.

394
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,000
So it's a big chunk of something.

395
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:34,000
Something significant?

396
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:36,000
That could be part of a plane.

397
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,000
Whatever it is, it's deep.

398
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:45,000
Resting at 150 feet, our bottom time will be limited to about four minutes before we risk decompression sickness.

399
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,000
It's therefore essential that we find it quickly.

400
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:53,000
We carefully position the boat exactly on top of the coordinates.

401
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,000
Throw it!

402
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:13,000
Alright. Let's go down to the bottom. Mark, let's do this.

403
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:19,000
Yeah, Josh. We're only going to have a couple minutes at the bottom, so let's hit it and then come back up.

404
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,000
Yeah, we'll just try to idea quick if we can.

405
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:27,000
Oh, I see it. It's down there.

406
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:28,000
Okay.

407
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,000
Topside, we're on the target. We're coming down on it.

408
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,000
Diver's topside. What do you see? Over.

409
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:38,000
It's hard to tell. Could be a plane. There's an elongated shape.

410
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:39,000
Stand by.

411
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,000
What the hell is that?

412
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,000
If that's a plane, it's a big plane.

413
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,000
It's a big plane.

414
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:49,000
It's a big plane.

415
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:50,000
It's a big plane.

416
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:51,000
It's a big plane.

417
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:52,000
It's a big plane.

418
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,000
It's a big plane.

419
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:54,000
It's a big plane.

420
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:55,000
It's a big plane.

421
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,000
What's that? If that's a plane, it's a big plane.

422
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:08,000
The target is clearly man-made, but is it aviation? With just two minutes of bottom time remaining, we have to make the ID fast.

423
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:14,000
There's a propeller. I can see a trap.

424
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:23,000
Hold on. I got a better look at it. It's a propeller, but it's not aviation. Mark, that's a bomb, yeah?

425
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,000
That's a dry shot for a bomb.

426
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,000
Diver's topside. Looked Japanese to you. Or modern. Over.

427
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:34,000
Yeah, let's say this is period. This is all but down here a long time.

428
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,000
There's almost nothing left of it. It's just ran it away.

429
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:44,000
I stick a couple of portholes here and some metal. Looks like a foil of old cable.

430
00:29:44,000 --> 00:30:00,000
Oh, my God. That scared the hell out of me. Right in front of me just blended in. I don't think he's used to company.

431
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:09,000
Nobody's probably been down here in almost a century. Yeah, that's his wreck. Absolutely. Okay, we'll leave the eel in peace.

432
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:18,000
We've discovered and photographed an undocumented wreck that likely sank during Hailstone, another lost piece of history that can be added to the map.

433
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:33,000
Out of bottom time, we swim back toward the surface where we'll move on to our next target.

434
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:41,000
The final sonar hit we haven't yet investigated turns out to be one that project recover has a high degree of confidence in.

435
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:48,000
Hey, Josh, we have one final target we need to interrogate. And what's special about this target? We think it's a plane. You do. Yeah.

436
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:59,000
But your hope is that it's American. Yeah, we don't know much about it. So we we're going to go down and fully document it, do photogrammetry on it and collect as much information on that site as we can.

437
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:05,000
So for folks who don't know photogrammetry, basically you're going to take a huge amount of photos, high resolution that you can stitch together. Yeah.

438
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:14,000
So hopefully if we can get more data, we can put the pieces together and figure out which aircraft this is. Okay, let's dive it. Let's do it. All right, come on.

439
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:33,000
We make our way to the coordinates and deploy the shot line. If we can positively identify the plane as American, it would be historic. The first U.S. wreck ever found in truck Lagoon.

440
00:31:44,000 --> 00:32:10,000
Okay, passing 30 feet. Hey, Josh, you see that dark patch down there? I see that's a plane. What's left of it? The state of destruction here is extensive. This is night and day from that zero we saw. This plane is really, really broken up.

441
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:31,000
Yeah, it doesn't even look like a plane, does it? There are 42 missing American planes in the Lagoon. The question is, could this twisted pile of metal be one of them? What am I looking at here? Josh, this is the canopy of the aircraft. What's left of it? Right? This is the transparent copper over the cockpit.

442
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:43,000
Yeah, these cities have thick areas on the side here. This would have been the rail of the canopy. And this thing is thrown about 20 feet from the body of the wreck. Must have been such a violent impact.

443
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:56,000
The debris field is littered with metal. Most of it pancaked to the ocean floor, except for one telltale object. See the problem, Josh? Yeah, it's about all that's sticking up.

444
00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:08,000
This thing was spinning when it hit the water. Most definitely. There's been diagnostics here on the propeller.

445
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:22,000
Oh, right here, Josh. See these three bolts, patterns between the two propellers? Yeah, I can see them. Yeah, this is really diagnostic of an American Hamilton standard propeller.

446
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:31,000
The Hamilton standard propeller had three bolts securing each blade. It is a designed fingerprint that allows us to ID our suspect.

447
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:43,000
So wait, does that mean what I think? Oh yeah, no question about it. We've got an American plane here. Just as the first American plane, it's about to go.

448
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,000
Honestly, Mark, I'm speechless.

449
00:33:53,000 --> 00:34:02,000
Yeah, this is really diagnostic of an American Hamilton standard propeller. This is unbelievable. I'm in shock.

450
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:10,000
Eight decades after World War II, we just located an American plane wreck, the first ever found in Truck Lagoon.

451
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:19,000
What an honor, Mark. To be here, to see this, it's incredible. Okay, let's go and see what we found in the wreck, yeah?

452
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:29,000
It's a historic discovery. Now, we need to gather as much information as we can to determine which missing plane this is and who was in it.

453
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,000
Is that the rudder? Yeah, it's very interesting to see.

454
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:43,000
These circular perforations here look like airbricks on the center of the fuselage. Got it.

455
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:51,000
These are usually on the wings and here on the belly to slow it like when it's in a dive. That's correct, Tarj.

456
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:58,000
The puzzle pieces are starting to come together. We're looking at an American dive bomber, but which one?

457
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:06,000
There's two different types of American planes that have these kinds of airbricks, the Helgliver and the Dauntless.

458
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:18,000
The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the main U.S. carrier bomber for most of World War II, famous for delivering one of the most devastating defeats in military history at the Battle of Midway.

459
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:24,000
Its successor, the Curtis SB-2C Heldiver, was faster but harder to handle.

460
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:33,000
Over 7,000 Heldivers were built, yet there is only one left on Earth that flies. The question is, which plane is in front of us?

461
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:44,000
Mark, look at this. We've got a wheel over here. So really, really small. This must be the rear wheel on the plane, the one in the tail, yeah?

462
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:46,000
Yeah, that's what it looks like.

463
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,000
Look what's next to it, Tarj. This is the assembly for the rear wheel.

464
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:56,000
Oh, that's like a piston there.

465
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,000
Yeah, that's a piston action for shock absorbing.

466
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:06,000
Incredible. Something colored here, Mark, kind of yellow, looks like fabric.

467
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:16,000
I think this is for our life friends. The life friends. Oh my word. So, not deployed, still in the plane.

468
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:23,000
Which leads to a sobering realization. The pilot and crew may also still be inside.

469
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,000
Mark, I've got something here. Look at this. Oh my God.

470
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:38,000
Is that what I think it is? Oh, wow. I think it is. Is that from a shoe? Yeah, it's a sole of a shoe.

471
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:52,000
Oh, man. So we'll photograph that, obviously, leave it where it is. Yeah, we're not going to disturb anything down here.

472
00:36:52,000 --> 00:37:01,000
Oh, my God. This wreck is a war grave, the final resting place of American soldiers. This is hallowed ground.

473
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:11,000
Boy, that really puts things into a very real perspective real quick. Yeah, it's evidence that somebody didn't get out of this place.

474
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:23,000
And it's that this goes from being a piece of machinery and a piece of wreckage to also being the story of an individual here. That's something, wow.

475
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:30,000
I'd like to start the photo-gravitry now. Carbine out, I'm clearing out. Here we go.

476
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:37,000
Mark slowly circles the wreck, snapping hundreds and hundreds of photos.

477
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:47,000
We surface and head back to project recover headquarters.

478
00:37:53,000 --> 00:38:01,000
We know this is an American plane, one of 42 lost in combat here. Now the question is, which one?

479
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:09,000
Hey, Josh. Hey. How do we do on the photogrammetry? We spent some time on it and I think you're going to be amazed. We got some really good stuff. Really? Yeah.

480
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:19,000
Okay, take me through it. What do we got? We took over 2000 photos to put this thing together. Okay. So this is individual photos that are then stitched to give us a perspective of the entire site.

481
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:33,000
And what you end up with is a picture like this. Wow, look at that. You can see the entire wreck. The entire wreck. It gives us a much wider view of this, certainly than I had down there diving around.

482
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:46,000
And I didn't even see some of these outlying pieces of debris. Yeah, and we can even now dial down into the anatomy of the crash itself. The thing, I guess to me that jumps out right away is just the complete and total destruction here.

483
00:38:47,000 --> 00:39:00,000
Yeah, and what's striking about this photo, Josh? How far off the sea floor is that aircraft? It's hand-caked on the bottom. That's right. It is barely coming off of the sea floor. This must have been a really dramatic crash.

484
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:16,000
Yeah, that's right. This is an aircraft that hit the water at extremely high speeds. Right. Taking the forensic analysis a step further, the steep angle of descent at high speed suggests that this plane didn't just crash. It was shot down.

485
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:28,000
And the thousands of photographs we took not only enable us to see the full scope of the wreck site, they also reveal minute details that help identify the plane.

486
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:35,000
So when we talk about really pressing down into the anatomy of this, what do we see in the photogrammetry? What jumps out at a granular level?

487
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:50,000
Here's the rudder. Yes, I do remember seeing this down there laying in the sand. And take a look at this from a manual. So this diagram is from what aircraft? An SBD Dauntless. That is an almost perfect match. Yeah.

488
00:39:51,000 --> 00:40:00,000
Well, we have another part here. This is the elevator torque tubes. So you see these kind of cross pieces here are the same as these two here? Exactly.

489
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:18,000
This is the landing gear strut with the shock absorber, which you see right here. And we saw those perforated air brakes, which were both under the wings and under the belly of the plane. That's from the manual. Exactly the same.

490
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:28,000
Your confidence that this is an American aircraft is 100%? Yeah, that's exactly what this is. This is an SBD five dollars.

491
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:42,000
Armed to the teeth with four machine guns and more than 2000 pounds of bombs, the Dauntless is credited with 138 aerial victories and sank more than 18 enemy warships and six carriers.

492
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:54,000
In short, the plane is an absolute legend of World War II. So if we now know this is a Dauntless and obviously we know where it is, now what?

493
00:40:55,000 --> 00:41:03,000
I've been doing a lot of research, of course, on all the aircraft that crashed here and there are two Dauntless's that crashed in the lagoon. And one of them had a crash profile that looked very similar to this.

494
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:10,000
Wait, you're telling me you know who was flying that plane? I have a confidence of 100%. Wow, no doubt. No doubt.

495
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:27,000
With an average year round temperature of 81 degrees, no one in this part of the Pacific dreams of a white Christmas. Instead, they dream of a holiday splashdown.

496
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:47,000
In 1952, the US military started a tradition here known as Operation Christmas Drop. Boxes packed with toys and clothes are loaded onto C-130 transport planes and parachuted to remote islands throughout Micronesia.

497
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:55,000
It's the longest running humanitarian airlift in the world. Ho, ho, ho, and Merry Chukmus.

498
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:02,000
So if we now know this is a Dauntless, now what?

499
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:09,000
There are two Dauntless's that crashed in the lagoon and one of them had a crash profile that looked very similar to this.

500
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:20,000
Project Recover has just identified a Dauntless dive bomber, the first American World War II wreck ever found in truck lagoon, and Colin may have identified its crew.

501
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:24,000
Can I have a document that I found that I'd like to show you?

502
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,000
Okay, so this is an account from who?

503
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:33,000
This is an account from David J. Collie. He was the backseat gunner on another Dauntless in the same squadron.

504
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:42,000
And so Collie says in this account, quote, we dropped low over the water and were taken under fire by a rusty hulk of an old cargo ship or tanker.

505
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,000
It was covered with anti-aircraft and machine guns and they were all firing at us.

506
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:53,000
And at this point, this squadron is probably dive bombing on the high end maroo.

507
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:58,000
That's right. Those two main ships in the area were the Hayon Maroo and the Tonon Maroo number three.

508
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:08,000
I spotted one of our SBDs, Dauntless, about a half mile behind us still in his vertical dive and he dove almost vertically into the water.

509
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:18,000
As our planes joined up, we soon figured out that it was Donald Dean and J.J. Magory.

510
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:24,000
I have always thought that they were hit by AA anti-aircraft fire just before pullout.

511
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:26,000
Yeah.

512
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:41,000
This guy is describing another Dauntless just behind them in this area in a vertical dive.

513
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:45,000
So we have their names here. Donald Dean and J.J. Magory.

514
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:55,000
Gunner J.J. Magory and pilot Donald Dean were members of the VB-10 bombing squadron stationed on the USS Enterprise.

515
00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:01,000
Dean was a quarterback in college and father of a newborn that he never got a chance to meet.

516
00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:10,000
They flew dive bombing missions in the Marshall Islands and two successful missions in Operation Hailstone before they were shot down.

517
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:17,000
Not only are we now able to tell more of their story, but Project Recovers' efforts may finally bring them home.

518
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:29,000
This is invaluable for the next phase of MIA recovery. The detail of this photo will be analyzed.

519
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:37,000
They have an image of the entire site at such high resolution that you can actually dive into the picture without even being there.

520
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:44,000
This becomes a tool then for figuring out how to plan and ultimately extract maybe remains from the wreck in the future.

521
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:45,000
Exactly.

522
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,000
And once those remains are recovered, what happens?

523
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:50,000
They'll be brought back home.

524
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:52,000
With honors.

525
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:03,000
So when we started this, there were 42 missing American planes here in Truk Lagoon.

526
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:09,000
Now there's 41 in the first American aircraft ever located in Truk Lagoon. We can check it off the list.

527
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:17,000
I'm so touched and humbled to have been able to be here to document this, to play just a small role in what you do.

528
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:19,000
It's extraordinary work. Leads to this.

529
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:22,000
Well thank you for having me out here. I really appreciate it.

530
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:24,000
Thank you, Jackson.

531
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:30,000
Keep up the amazing work and here's to these guys and to many more to be found soon.

532
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:32,000
And brought home.

533
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:39,000
On the main island in Truk, there is a memorial to the thousands of Japanese who died here during the war.

534
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:43,000
But there's no memorial to the Americans who perished until now.

535
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:51,000
We worked with the entire Project Recover team to have one made and presented in a ceremony with the Lieutenant Governor.

536
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:54,000
I want to thank Josh, an expedition unknown.

537
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,000
It's because of your team that we are able to actually do this.

538
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:02,000
So I really want to extend a warm thank you to you for helping do this.

539
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:04,000
Without further ado.

540
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:22,000
So the plaque reads, in remembrance of over 200 United States servicemen who made the ultimate sacrifice on and around the islands of Truk Lagoon in World War II.

541
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:27,000
Today known as Chuuk, the Federated States of Micronesia.

542
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:33,000
And it cites a passage from the poem by Lawrence Binion for the fallen.

543
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,000
They that shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.

544
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:46,000
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn at the going down of the sun and in the morning.

545
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,000
We will remember them.

546
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:03,000
Family to ensure your sacrifice goes down in history.

547
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:08,000
And I feel so unworthy.

548
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:14,000
But I'm here to tell your story.

549
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:19,000
You are not forgotten.

550
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:24,000
This I promise you.

551
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:27,000
I'll never let you go.

552
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:32,000
Your story only grows.

553
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:40,000
You are not forgotten.

554
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:45,000
I'll let everybody know.

555
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:48,000
I found your legacy.

556
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:53,000
And what you mean to me.

557
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:55,000
Please remember.

558
00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:59,000
You're not forgotten.