History Flight

Since 2003, History Flight has sent over 150 search and recovery teams around the world to investigate, locate and recover missing U.S.

History Flight (HF), a 501(c)3 Non-Profit organization dedicated to researching, location, excavation, recovering and repatriating US Missing In Action service members to American soil. military personnel and has done so producing an astonishing and unmatched 93 percent recovery rate. History Flights incredible team of international professionals come from very diverse backgrounds, intertwined sea

mlessly together in support of the mission recovering America’s fallen heroes and fulfilling our nations promise of never leaving a fallen comrade behind. History Flight does this by employing cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary remote-sensing methodologies and best practices in their sector in the industry. This multi-disciplinary approach, couple with the best people in the industry employing those methodologies, has recovered the remains of more than 350 MIA personnel in the past several years, with 150 of those recoveries thus far resulting in a positive identification of missing US Personnel and more to come.

12/07/2024

December 7, 1941...a date which will live in infamy...

-President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Today, on the 83rd Anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor, the team at History Flight is honoring and remembering the 2,403 United States citizens that lost their lives in the surprise attack by the Empire of Japan. We also remember all, military and civilian, whose lives were forever changed by that day. This attack sparked the United States of America to declare war on Japan on December 8, 1941, thrusting America into World War II.

11/23/2024

Battle of Tarawa - 81 Year Anniversary

Day 4: November 23, 1943

The probable night time banzai attacks turned into a reality on the last night of the battle. Dusk turned to dawn on November 23 as the last banzai attacks struck hard at the Marines advancing towards the eastern end of Betio Island. Calls for reinforcements were made; however, none were available to send. One Marine was quoted saying “They told us we had to hold...and by God we held”.

Betio Island was declared secured at 1312 on November 23, 1943...75 hours and 42 minutes after the first Marines hit the beaches. Only 17 Japanese combatants were taken prisoner, along with 129 Korean slave laborers that were forcibly brought to Tarawa by the Japanese. The loss of life was catastrophic resulting in over 1,000 US Marines and Navy Corpsman killed, and over 2,000 were wounded. Over 5,000 Japanese and Korean laborers were also killed.

The Battle of Tarawa is remembered as one of the toughest and bloodiest battles in the history of the United States Marine Corps.

11/22/2024

Battle of Tarawa - 81 Year Anniversary

Day 3: November 22, 1943

This was the day the Japanese defenses fell apart. The first and third battalions of the Sixth Marines swept up the southwestern side of Betio Island, and pushed inland towards the east. Meanwhile, the first, second and third battalions of the Second Marines and the first, second and third battalions of the Eighth Marines swept in from the north, pushing inland towards the south and east, eventually meeting up with the Sixth Marines. Flame throwers, grenades and heavy machine gun fire was essential to clear out Japanese pillboxes. All the while, ever present Japanese snipers were firing at the Americans as they moved across the island. Going into the night the Marines prepared for probable banzai attacks from the Japanese who refused to surrender...

11/21/2024

Battle of Tarawa - 81 Year Anniversary

Day 2: November 21, 1943

“Casualties - many: percentage dead - unknown: combat efficiency - we are winning.”

-COL David Shoup, Medal of Honor Recipient, USMC, Tarawa, 21 November 1943

The Marines that landed on Tarawa the previous day spent the night dug into the northern beaches’ seawall and along the pier of Betio Island. Of the 5,000 US men that landed on November 20, 1,500 were now dead or wounded. The tides finally turned in the favor of the Americans resulting in ammunition, munition, tanks and reserve battalions arriving to shore as dawn approached. Heavy resistance from the Japanese was continuous; however, Marines started to push inland by late in the afternoon. The Marines moved pillbox to pillbox, clearing the Japanese from their defensive positions one by one...

11/20/2024

Battle of Tarawa - 81 Year Anniversary

Day 1: November 20, 1943

The 2nd Marine Division began OPERATION GALVANIC with the invasion of Tarawa atoll early in the morning hours, after almost 3,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the one square mile of sand and coral in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Low tides forced many of the Marines to abandon their Higgins boats as they bottomed out on the coral reef. This resulted in the men having to wade and swim to shore; all the while taking on relentless fire from the Japanese forces. Heavy casualties were suffered, and reinforcements due to land later in the day were called to stand down. The Marines already on shore dug in for the long night ahead...

11/11/2024

Happy Veterans Day!

Today marks the 105th year where we honor all those who have served or are serving in our armed forces.

Here at History Flight, we would like to take the time to thank the more than 18 million living US Veterans. We are also honoring all of our veterans, past and present, including the 126 unaccounted for from the Cold War, 1,574 unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, 7,452 unaccounted for from the Korean War, and the 72,000 still unaccounted for from World War II and the 6 individuals unaccounted for from other recent conflicts.

We would also like to thank the many members of our team that are Veterans! Thank you for all you have done for our country, and continue to do for it today by helping to bring our Nation’s Missing in Action back home.

Thank you, Veterans, for all you have done for our great Nation!

11/10/2024

Happy 249th Birthday to the United States Marine Corps!

Rear Admiral Shibazaki, of the Imperial Japanese Navy, once said “it would take one million mean, one hundred years” to conquer Tarawa. It took 18,000 US Marines 76 hours.

We honor and salute all of the past, present and future Marines that selflessly defend our country. Thank you for your honor, courage and commitment.

Semper Fi

10/15/2024

Today, we honor and remember the twenty-two individuals that were brutally executed by Japanese force on October 15, 1942.

“STANDING UNARMED TO THEIR POSTS, THEY MATCHED BRUTALITY WITH GALLENTRY AND MET DEATH WITH FORTITUDE”

During August and September 1942, seventeen military New Zealand coast watchers (seven Post and Telegraph Department radio operators and ten soldiers) and five civilians were captured as Japanese forces overran the Gilbert Islands, now Kiribati. They were imprisoned on Tarawa atoll and subsequently beheaded on Betio Island following an American air raid on the island.

All individuals that were executed received a posthumous mention in dispatches, and the civilians were retrospectively given military rank in 1944.

History Flight is continuing research into locating, recovering and repatriating these heroic individuals.

10/13/2024

Happy 249th Birthday to the United States Navy! We honor and salute all of the past, present and future service members that bravely defend our great Nation! Thank you for your sacrifice!

May you all continue to serve with Honor, Courage, and Commitment and uphold the long United States Navy Tradition of “Victory at Sea”.

10/10/2024

Welcome home Elvis N. Spotts! Identified today, 9 October 2024!

Recovered by History Flight in conjunction with our long standing partnership with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Service: United States Merchant Marine

Age: 18

Hometown: Kansas City MO.

WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Merchant Marine Wiper Elvis N. Spotts, 18, of Kansas City, Missouri, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Sept. 13, 2018.

In February 1944, Spotts was a crew member of the SS Cape Isabel, part of a convoy of three ships including the USS Grayson and the SS Cape Fear. On Feb. 22, 1944, the ships were approximately 12 miles off the coast of Tarawa Atoll. The two Merchant Marine vessels were bringing supplies to Betio Island. Spotts was electrocuted during bilge maintenance. He was unable to be revived.

On Feb. 23, 1944, Spotts was buried with military honors in the U.S. Marine Cemetery on Betio Island.

In the aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in and after the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but Spotts’ remains were not identified and he was declared non-recoverable.

In 2017, members of History Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization, discovered a coffin buried in Cemetery #33 on Betio, which contained possible osseous remains. These Unknown remains were transferred to the DPAA laboratory for examination and identification.

To identify Spotts’ remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as dental and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Spotts’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Spotts will be buried in Armstrong, Missouri, on Nov. 9, 2024.

09/29/2024

Today, on Gold Star Mother’s Day, we remember and honor all of the mother’s and families that have lost a loved one in the service of the United States Armed Forces. We are thinking of you not only today, but every day. Thank you for your sacrifices.

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http://www.historyflight.com/

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