SEASIDE – Seventy-nine years and one day ago, 24-year-old Aviation Radioman First Class Wilbur Archie Mitts died during an aerial mission with two others in the Western Pacific – all three lost at sea in the violent crash. On Monday, Mitts was laid to rest near other family members at Mission Memorial Park in Seaside.
Mitts’ remains were recovered in 2021 and he was officially accounted for in February.
Mitts was paid tribute to by family members, local elected officials, U.S. Navy leaders, veterans, and community members turning out to honor his memory and sacrifice. The proceedings included a chapel service, honor guard, U.S. Flag ceremony, and burial honors.
Mitts’ niece Diana Ward is the oldest living relative of the veteran and was born three days after he died. She recounted how the close-knit family kept his memory alive by telling stories, going over keepsakes and photos, and singing a hymn that was his favorite – “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” – that was played at his ceremony.
Ward said that Mitts was remembered as someone with a ready smile, an outgoing personality, energetic, athletic and talented. He wrote home often and reminded his mother not to worry as he definitely planned on returning. He cared for his mother deeply and the military compensation from his death helped her buy the house where she lived in Seaside until her death.
His great-great niece Chanel Shiraishi brought the youngest of Mitts’ relatives to the gathering – his three-times great nephew baby Enzo.
“I never imagined he’d be recovered,” said Shiraishi, as she cradled Enzo.
Shiraishi recounted recently being there when her repatriated great-great uncle’s remains were prepared for burial. She described them being wrapped in cloth, placed inside a complete Navy uniform which was adorned with the medals he earned including the Purple Heart and the American Legion’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal. The decorated uniform and bundled remains were carefully placed in the casket. She said she would always feel honored to have witnessed that respectful process.
Ward spoke of the family’s gratitude to the Navy and the Project Recover organization for finding Mitts and bringing him home.
Dr. Pat Scannon is 75, a U.S. Army veteran, and the founder of Project Recover. He says he will continue to work to bring the families of those missing in action the closure that comes with finally having their veteran loved ones home.
“I feel honored to play a role … a certain sense of satisfaction shared with the team knowing we made the successful effort,” said Scannon. “But we realize there are so many more MIA … a vast majority from World War II.”
Project Recover is a collaborative effort to enlist 21st-century science and technology in a quest to find and repatriate Americans missing in action since WWII to provide recognition and closure to families and the nation.
“I started the whole program in 1993 and originally called it the Bent Prop Project,” said Scannon.
Back in the early 1990s, Scannon was in Palau in the Western Pacific as part of a dive team looking for the Japanese trawler sunken by George H.W. Bush in 1944. The vessel was successfully found and Scannon stayed on.
“I hired a guy to take us to another wreckage and came across a 65-foot wing of a B-24 American Bomber from World War II and it hit me hard because I wanted to know what happened to the rest of the plane and crew, but nobody knew,” said Scannon. “I decided to do something about it.”
Scannon said his efforts started as “a one-man show at that point.”
Formerly known as The Bent Prop Project, Project Recover has grown from a grassroots effort to a team of dedicated professionals and volunteers using innovative science to bring the nation’s MIAs home.
Over nearly three decades, Project Recover has been working in full cooperation with host nations and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA. During this time Project Recover has repatriated over 17 MIAs and located more than 65 U.S. World War II aircraft associated with more than 250 MIAs in missions around the globe. Currently, based upon the work of Project Recover, there are over 100 MIAs awaiting recovery worldwide, over 700 cases in its growing database, and over 3,000 associated with ongoing investigations.
In 2012, Project Recover was informally founded as a collaborative partnership between the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Delaware.
In 2016, the partnership was formalized, and in 2018, The Bent Prop Project officially changed its name to Project Recover. The organization works in close partnership with Scripps and the University of Delaware.
In talking about her grandmother, Mitts’ mother, Ward said that she always longed for a place to visit her son. She knew he was somewhere in the Pacific, but it was never anyplace she could go to.
Scannon said that for many families of those missing in action, there is a “state of ambiguous loss.” The family knows intellectually that there is a 99% chance the family member was killed, but until they are located and returned, this ambiguity passes from generation to generation. It can become more intense across generations and can take on “mythical status.”
But once that individual’s casket comes down the ramp at the airport, the reality of their loss hits them because that individual is finally home, he said.
Now that Mitts has come home and been laid to rest alongside two siblings in the Seaside cemetery, there is a place for his family to go, reflect on his memory, and place flowers in his honor.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, Rear Admiral Michael Schwerin, and Chaplain Lieutenant Commander Richard Shang were among those who spoke at the ceremony for Mitts.