USAAF
5th AF
35th FG
39th FS
1943
via Aerothentic.com
Justin Taylan 2008
Pilot 2nd Lt. Robert Eric Thorpe, O-810434 (Cranston,
RI) MIA/POW/KIA
Crashed May 27, 1944 at aprox 08:40
MACR 5754
Aircraft History
Engine: R-2800-21 AAF Serial Number: 41-40652. White tail with blue tip of tail and cowling.
Pilot History
Thorpe attended Cranston High School, worked for his father's pharmacy and was a yachtsman in the Edgewood Yacht Club. He joined the US Army on September 18, 1942. Commissioned on August 30, 1943, after completing his flight training in Florida flying the P-47 Thunderbolt.
Assigned to the 39th Fighter Squadron and flew his first combat mission from Port Moresby on February 2, 1943. He had flown seventeen combat mission during his first month in combat. Including operations over Hollandia. By April 1st he had flown 150 combat hours. Thorpe earned the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster and Purple Heart. Thorpe was 20 years old when he died.
Mission History
Took off from Gusap Airfield on a strafing mission to against But Airfield west of Wewak. Last seen prior to making a strafing attack.
Ditched north of Kairiru Island. Pilot Thorpe then swam ashore on a log. Ashore, he was captured by natives and civilians from a volunteer Formosan civilian unit based on Kairiru and escorted to the Navy headquarters on the south side of the island, at St John's Mission.
Thorpe was beaten and interrogated by Lt Commander Kaoru Okuma, engineering staff officer, and paymaster Lt Isamu Amenomoro. Neither were charged in connection with the crime, nor was Lt Tsunchike Yamanoto who tried to shoot Thorpe in the legs prior to his beheading, along with Okuma. About thirty Japanese were present at the execution which took place about 1630 hours, the next day. Before he was killed, Thorpe asked what time it was, and then was executed. After being beheaded by Hiroshi Odazawa at 4:30pm, he was buried in a makeshift grave. No natives witnessed the incident. A radio message outlining the execution was later transmitted to Truk for forwarding to Tokyo.
War Crimes Investigation
After the war, the Japanese involved conspired to conceal the murder, while held as POWs by the Australian Army, who occupied the Wewak area. In October 1945, Captain Kiyoshisa Noto submitted a sworn statement to Australian Army Headquarters at Wewak, claiming that Thorpe had died of malaria after a month of hospitalization on Kairiru Island.
During the 1948 Yokohama War Crimes trails, statements from six Japanese participants directly involved in Thorpe’s execution were obtained, including a map of the execution site and grave.
Yokohama War Crimes Trial
Executioner Hiroshi Odazawa plead 'guilty', the others pleaded 'not guilty'. Lt Commander Kaoru Okuma, was convicted in 1948 for the crime and hanged in 1949. Captain Kiyoshisa Noto was sentenced to twenty years at Rabaul in prison for this and also convicted of another war
crime, the execution of two Australians on Kairiru in 1945, yet he served only one year of his sentence, then was released.
MIA Case Unresolved
Despite
the fact that two detailed sketches were created of his grave and execution site by POWs,
the American Graves Registration closed his case on May 26, 1949,
stating his remains were "non-recoverable".
MIA Search
After the publication of the article Forgotten Island Aviator by Michael Claringbould , developing interest in the case. In 2005, Brian Bennett under contract for JPAC investigated this case, and followed the wartime map. The grave site was to be investigated by JPAC during May 2008, but the team did not visit. This MIA case remains unresolved until this day.
Memorials
Thorpe is listed on the tablets of the missing at Manila American Cemetery. The Thorpe family grave in Cranston Cemetery lists Robert E. Thorpe in memory.
Relatives
Gill Thorpe (brother)
References
"5 Japs on Trial For R.I. Man's Death" June 22, 1948
"Assassin of Local Flyer Now on Trial" June 22, 1948
"Jap to Hang for Killing Cranston Man" July 6, 1948
"Cranston Flier's Jap Executioner Pays With Life", May 27, 1949
Flightpath Magazine "Forgotten Island Aviator" by Michael Claringbould,
Vol. 15, May-June 2004
RI Aviation Hall of Fame "A Rhode Island Family Asks: When is Lt. Robert Thorpe Coming Home?" October 15, 2004
North East Independent "Family Hopes to Recover Fallen Soldier's Remains" October 22, 2004
The Providence Journal "The Search for a brother nears its end" by Bob Kerr, November 11, 2005
The Providence Journal "A flier's life and death become clear" by Bob Kerr, August 19, 2007
Boston Globe "A Brother Lost: A flyer's siblings in search of closure" by Bryan Bender May 25, 2008
P-47
POW/MIA
Photo Archive
Map from MACR
Forgotten Island Aviator
