Plot 28. Row C. Collective Grave 1-8.

A memorial consisting of a bronze plaque mounted on a horizontal concrete base commemorating U.S. Army Air Forces combat weather forecaster Corporal John Robert Waite, who died onboard a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) B-24 bomber downed by Japanese forces over the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) at the end of World War II.

On 27 July 1945, Corporal Waite flew as an observer with a RAAF B-24L crew led by Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Hanson, 21 (City of Melbourne) Squadron, to conduct a photographic reconnaissance mission over Northern Sulawesi Island (formerly Northern Celebes, Netherlands East Indies).

Over Tomohon in Northern Sulawesi, Japanese anti-aircraft fire hit the Liberator. Four of the crew were observed bailing out -- three landed safely, while one died on impact when his chute failed to open, and the Japanese found and buried his remains. The other three were taken prisoner and killed soon after in Japanese captivity in Kaaten prison. Waite perished on board when the aircraft crashed southwest of Tomohon.

The day after the crash, another B-24 Liberator spotted the wreckage of this aircraft, but observed no sign of survivors. On 9 January 1946, a team from the Australian War Graves Unit (AWGU) conducted a local investigation, which determined from local witnesses that the aircraft wreckage burned for two days, after which the natives recovered what they believed to be the remains of eight airmen and buried them near the crash site in separate graves. The AWGU recovered the body of the airman who died when his parachute failed to open, and exhumed the other graves, finding only sufficient evidence to establish the presence of seven bodies, none of which could be individually identified. It was considered probable that the remains of one of the crew may have been completely incinerated in the fire, leaving no trace. All recovered remains of crew members (including Waite) were eventually buried at the Ambon War Cemetery.

Waite also has a memorial marker alongside his parents grave in Forest Hill Cemetery in Napoleon, Ohio, and his name is listed on a monument to local servicemembers who died in World War II and the Korean War in the Gold Star Memorial Park in his hometown of Albion, Michigan.

NOTE: Corporal Waite probably died on 27 July 1945, even though his Ambon marker indicates his date of death as 26th July 1945 and his cenotaph in Ohio indicates July 25, 1945. CWGC records and other open source historical information indicate his date of death as 27 July, and Ambon markers for other aircrew members who died in the crash also indicate date of death as 27 July.

Source of information: www.findagrave, www.aircrewremembered.com, www.pacificwrecks.com

Source of photo: www.findagrave.com

[U.S. Eagle]

36404344 CORPORAL

J. R. WAITE

UNITED STATES ARMY AIR CORPS

26TH JULY 1945 AGE 23