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Am trying to locate relatives of OR anyone who may have info about living relatives of John Daniel Yeager. The only information we have about Mr. Yeager is that he lived in New Kensington, PA, when he joined the Marine Corps. He was listed as having a wife, Helen K. Yeager.
He was in my dad's WWII Marines squadron VMB-423 which served in the South Pacific. Mr. Yeager was a crew member on PBJ 35087 which crashed on April 22, 1944, in Espiritu Santos. No bodies were recovered after the crash.
We have recently been made aware that a search effort in the 1990's resulted in recovery of some remains (bone fragments) of the crew members. Efforts are being made to locate relatives who might provide DNA samples to aid JPAC in making a positive identification. If anyone thinks they may have even the smallest chance of providing information to reach relatives of Mr. Yeager, your response would be greatly appreciated.
On the wild chance that someone reading this might have information, We will mention that we are also trying to locate relatives of four other crew members who perished on that same flight. The following info was from the time the men were in VMB-423 (some 60 years ago!!!).
Laverne A. Lallathin of Ada, Oklahoma (mother: Maymee E. Lallathin , Bay Center, Washington)
Dwight Dale Ekstam of Moline, Illinois (mother: Elsie C. Nordquist , Moline, IL)
Wayne Richard Erickson of St. Louis Park, Minnesota (mother: Martha Mankins of St. Louis Park)
James Austin Sisney of Redwood City, California (mother: Agnes T. Sisney of Redwood City)
Two other crew members have already been positively identified using DNA samples from family members. It is the hope of the surviving VMB-423 men (most in their mid- to late-80s) that this can also be accomplished for these 5 other comrades and perhaps bring closure for family members.
Thank you for reading this and for any help you might be able to provide!!!
I am Laverne Lallathin's niece. My sister is Mellissia Lou. I would like more information on the discovery of my uncle's plane. I would also be happy to answer any questions concerning this.
Thank you,
Cynthia Jane
I am interested in the information about VMB-423. My uncle my be one of the unidentified bodies found in Espiritu Santos. If my mother was alive today she would want her brother brought home if possible. I will gladly donate my DNA towards helping to find him.
Thank you,
Carla J. (Gross) Machate
Quote:
Originally Posted by semperfi
Am trying to locate relatives of OR anyone who may have info about living relatives of John Daniel Yeager. The only information we have about Mr. Yeager is that he lived in New Kensington, PA, when he joined the Marine Corps. He was listed as having a wife, Helen K. Yeager.
He was in my dad's WWII Marines squadron VMB-423 which served in the South Pacific. Mr. Yeager was a crew member on PBJ 35087 which crashed on April 22, 1944, in Espiritu Santos. No bodies were recovered after the crash.
We have recently been made aware that a search effort in the 1990's resulted in recovery of some remains (bone fragments) of the crew members. Efforts are being made to locate relatives who might provide DNA samples to aid JPAC in making a positive identification. If anyone thinks they may have even the smallest chance of providing information to reach relatives of Mr. Yeager, your response would be greatly appreciated.
On the wild chance that someone reading this might have information, We will mention that we are also trying to locate relatives of four other crew members who perished on that same flight. The following info was from the time the men were in VMB-423 (some 60 years ago!!!).
Laverne A. Lallathin of Ada, Oklahoma (mother: Maymee E. Lallathin , Bay Center, Washington)
Dwight Dale Ekstam of Moline, Illinois (mother: Elsie C. Nordquist , Moline, IL)
Wayne Richard Erickson of St. Louis Park, Minnesota (mother: Martha Mankins of St. Louis Park)
James Austin Sisney of Redwood City, California (mother: Agnes T. Sisney of Redwood City)
Two other crew members have already been positively identified using DNA samples from family members. It is the hope of the surviving VMB-423 men (most in their mid- to late-80s) that this can also be accomplished for these 5 other comrades and perhaps bring closure for family members.
Thank you for reading this and for any help you might be able to provide!!!
my name is Randal P. Yeager, my father was Edgar Wright YeagerIII - his mother lived in mass. at the time of her death, if i could help contact me at randaly@gmail.com- i also know that we used to go visit friends in ADA, okla.
Good luck to you....I went thru this a few years ago when I started researching my dad...[VMSB-132 and VMSB-142] I was lucky enough to make contact with his best friend and also with his radio gunner and have made contact with approximately 50 of the surviving members of the two squadrons....
If you haven't already done it....the Marine corps Aviation Association in VA was a lot of help to me.
Good luck to you....I went thru this a few years ago when I started researching my dad...[VMSB-132 and VMSB-142] I was lucky enough to make contact with his best friend and also with his radio gunner and have made contact with approximately 50 of the surviving members of the two squadrons....
If you haven't already done it....the Marine corps Aviation Association in VA was a lot of help to me.
I am also seeking information on VMSB-142 and an individual who hosted a web site for Douglas Dauntless Dive Bombers. Was that you ???
Carla, let me start by apologizing for such a late reply. I'm supposed to get email notifications when responses are made to my posts. For some reason, I didn't receive notifications about your response or the ones following it. It had been so long since I made the original post without much response that I had stopped checking the boards. Then I just decided to start 2008 off with another look at the posts and thoughts of making a new one. That's when I found your post made way back in August!!!
I hope that you'll find this answer and perhaps we can get communication started. Was John Daniel Yeager your uncle? We have been very fortunate in finding relatives of 3 of the other PBJ 35087 crew members (Lallathin, Sisney, and Ekstam).
I'll not send any more information now until I know for sure you'll get this message. I'm very excited and hope that you are indeed another piece in what has been an amazing puzzle-solving journey in locating relatives of these very brave Marines to whom we owe so much.
Looking forward to hearing from you. Happy New Year!
Nancy G. (proud daughter of a VMB-423 Seahorse Marine )
Quote:
Originally Posted by CMACHATE
I am interested in the information about VMB-423. My uncle my be one of the unidentified bodies found in Espiritu Santos. If my mother was alive today she would want her brother brought home if possible. I will gladly donate my DNA towards helping to find him.
I appreciate your responses so much! I'm sorry I haven't replied earlier, but as you can see in my response to CMACHATE above, I'm just now finding your posts.
Searching for relatives of these Marines has been a long, often frustrating experience with many dead ends. Finally locating kin for 3 of the men and now maybe a fourth one makes it all worthwhile.
A trip in search of the crash site was made in June 2007 by relatives of one of the crew. They were successful in locating the crash site and documenting information to turn over to JPAC. The tale of the journey to the site was presented at the squadron's reunion in October 2007. Truly amazing!!!!!
If we can locate relatives of the remaining two men (Yeager and Erickson) for DNA submission that will do even more to boost the possibility of an official recovery effort.
at6roy...I'm sorry, but I'm not the one who hosted the Douglas Dauntless Dive Bombers. Don't give up your search!!!
I grew up in a section of Philadelphia called Fishtown.
Kensington is another section of Philly next to Fishtown.
I am 51 and I went to school with Yeagers. There was 2 twin boys named Danny and Donny Yeager, they would be about my age.
Please look up Fishtown, Pa
I wish I could help further with your search,but I have lost touch over the years.
I grew up in a section of Philadelphia called Fishtown.
Kensington is another section of Philly next to Fishtown.
I am 51 and I went to school with Yeagers. There was 2 twin boys named Danny and Donny Yeager, they would be about my age.
Please look up Fishtown, Pa
I wish I could help further with your search,but I have lost touch over the years.
Your information is greatly appreciated. Details like these can sometimes make a very big difference and open just the door we need. Thank you SO much for your response!
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WWII Marine Squadron VMB-423
d.yeager
Vmsb-142
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