The search efforts this year, according to Flip Colmer was in Ngatpang State, where three airmen, three frogmen were believed to have been executed.
Colmer added that two Jesuit missionaries were believed to have been executed in that area too.He said it it believed that there are about 60 servicemen killed in the Ngatpang area called Police Hill.Colmer said this year’s members of the mission were split into two groups; search efforts underwater and land mission.He said that for the underwater search efforts, the team used sonar to sweep the area.The 2009 expedition team is composed of its team leader Pat Scannon, Colmer, Warren Bruce, Wil Hylton, Jolie Liston, Joe Maldangesang, Molly Osborne,Katie Rasdorf, Paul Schwimmer,Rick Smith, and Mark Swank.Colmer said because of the discoveries, Bentrop might do conduct another mission this June.Colmer said the search efforts will be presented to Joint Prisoners of War, Missing In Action Accounting Command (JPAC).The JPAC has sent recovery missions in the past years, Clomer said that the JPAC missions 2005, 2006 and 2008 were successful because they received reports that they have recovered and identified the remains of all eight crewmembers who went down with the B-24 aircraft.Bentprop has been working with JPAC to the recovery and identification of missing prisoners of war believed to have died in Palau during World War II.
