These WWII mysteries have finally been laid to rest. Welcome to WatchMojo, where today we're unlocking the greatest secrets of one of the most tumultuous periods in history.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 It is just mind-blowing to think where we started and where things are right now.
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're unlocking the greatest secrets of one of the most tumultuous periods in history.
00:13 The carburetor froze up, the plane crashed into the English Channel, end of story.
00:19 Number 10. The disappearance of Andrew Ladner.
00:23 Private Ladner was a proud son of Mississippi who was shipped off to the Pacific in 1942.
00:29 During the Battle of Bunagana, Ladner was on a mission in the jungles of New Guinea.
00:34 Sadly, Ladner was killed in action.
00:36 And during a battle in New Guinea in 1942, Ladner was killed at just the age of 30.
00:42 Unfortunately, the American Graves Registration Service was unable to locate his remains
00:47 when they combed the battlefield eight years later.
00:50 As it turns out, that's because his remains were discovered in 1943.
00:55 Listed as an unknown soldier, Ladner was buried in a nearby village.
00:59 He was then buried there and his remains were never identified until about a year ago.
01:04 After POW and MIA organizations conducted a review of unidentified remains, his body was exhumed.
01:11 And a 2016 DNA test confirmed his identity.
01:15 After more than 70 years, they finally brought Private Ladner home.
01:19 His family was then notified and decided to have him brought to Mississippi
01:23 where he would be honorably buried at a family plot.
01:26 Number 9. Missing German Vehicle
01:29 One of the very few positive consequences of climate change
01:32 is that sometimes droughts uncover archaeological treasures.
01:36 That's exactly what happened in 2022 in Sermide, Italy.
01:40 As the Germans retreated from the region in 1945,
01:43 a British recon plane spotted a German half-track truck.
01:47 Despite multiple attempts, Allied forces on the ground couldn't locate it.
01:51 Decades later, as portions of the River Poe began to dry out,
01:55 the vehicle was discovered in the riverbed.
01:58 It appears as if German troops pushed it into the river rather than letting it fall into Allied hands.
02:03 Number 8. The Discovery of LCT-326
02:08 In late January 1943, a flotilla of landing craft set sail from Scotland to Devon in southwest
02:14 England. The winter weather was foul, the waters choppy. On the night of February 1st,
02:20 landing craft LCT-326 was reported missing off the coast of the Isle of Man.
02:25 In 2020, researchers discovered the wreck of the LCT-326 off the coast of Bardsley Island.
02:32 The island, a tiny strip of land off the coast of Wales, is 100 miles from the reported crash zone.
02:38 The cause of the wreck is still unknown. Theories range from bad weather to a sea mine.
02:43 In either case, the families of the boat's 14 crewmen can now get a measure of peace
02:49 knowing its final resting place.
02:50 Number 7. The USS Albacore
02:54 This Gato Fleet submarine sank 13 Imperial vessels during her time in the Pacific Theater
03:00 in World War II, then vanished without a trace in 1944.
03:05 In 1944, Moss's parents received a telegram saying their son was missing. He was aboard the USS
03:13 Albacore. The following year, another letter, presuming him and about 85 others on the
03:19 submarine, lost. The sinking of the aircraft carrier Taiho in particular made the Albacore
03:25 a highly esteemed sub, adding to the Navy's dismay at her disappearance.
03:29 In early 2023, researchers from the University of Tokyo pointed the U.S. Navy to a wreck off
03:36 the coast of Hokkaido. Saying with the help of a Japanese professor, the USS Albacore was
03:41 identified. In February, an unmanned Navy vessel was able to confirm the remains of the
03:46 Albacore. She likely hit a mine while on a routine mission to refuel, losing all 85 people
03:53 on board.
03:54 Number 6. The disappearance of Wing Holm
03:57 An Army private from Boston who went MIA fighting the Germans in Italy, Holm and his squad were
04:03 in a firefight south of Rome when he disappeared. He was never reported as a POW, and his body
04:09 was never recovered.
04:10 A private Holm was assigned to Company B, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
04:16 At the end of the war, the Army listed Holm as killed in action. After almost 80 years,
04:21 a set of remains, found three miles west of the battle, were disinterred. The POW/MIA
04:28 Accounting Agency performed a DNA analysis of the remains in 2021.
04:32 The Department of Defense says that the remains of U.S. Army Private Wing Holm of Boston,
04:38 who was 28 years old at the time that he went missing, was accounted for on April 6.
04:45 After confirming his identity, Private Holm was brought home and buried in October 2023.
04:50 Number 5. The missing sailor from the USS Indianapolis
04:55 After its top-secret mission delivering the components for a nuclear bomb,
04:59 this Navy cruiser was sunk by the Japanese.
05:02 In less than 15 minutes, the USS Indianapolis disappears beneath the waves. Nearly 300 men
05:11 go down with the vessel.
05:12 Almost 900 men went into the sea, and famously, only 316 survived the dehydration,
05:20 shark attacks, and exposure to the elements long enough to be rescued.
05:24 After four days of hell, a Navy plane on a routine patrol spots an oil slick on the ocean surface.
05:32 Descending to investigate, the pilot is stunned to see hundreds of sailors drifting amongst the
05:38 waves. He immediately radios for help.
05:41 Among those assumed to have perished was radio tech Clarence William Donner,
05:46 since he was listed as a crewman on the Indianapolis and wasn't rescued.
05:50 But in reality, Donner was alive and served until he was discharged in 1946.
05:56 A clerical error had listed him as a crewman when he had actually just
05:59 hitched a ride once to his billet.
06:01 It took 73 years for historians to finally and conclusively set the record straight.
06:07 Number 4. Finding "Heaven Can Wait"
06:11 The B-24 bomber was utilized by every branch of the U.S. military during World War II,
06:16 and it played a central role in bombing campaigns in the Pacific theater.
06:20 "Heaven Can Wait" and two other U.S. planes were headed toward the second of two targets
06:25 near New Guinea when they encountered enemy fire. "Heaven Can Wait" was struck and fell to the water.
06:31 The family of 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. mourned the disappearance of his B-24,
06:38 nicknamed "Heaven Can Wait," for 70 years.
06:41 Then, in 2013, one of his relatives discovered a website with information about his plane.
06:47 On Memorial Day in 2013, Sandy's son Scott began the lengthy process of learning more
06:54 about what happened to the B-24 "Heaven Can Wait."
06:58 The family spent five years working with researchers, and Project Recover,
07:02 along with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, went to work searching for the wreck.
07:08 Utilizing new technologies and advanced unmanned submersibles,
07:12 oceanographers found the wreckage of "Heaven Can Wait" in 2018.
07:16 Just knowing it was there and finally found
07:20 was huge news for the families of the servicemen who were lost.
07:24 3. FAMILY LETTERS DISCOVERED IN TORONTO
07:28 Fans of "Antique Roadshow" know that every once in a while,
07:31 old mysteries are solved in the nooks and crannies of old homes.
07:35 Toronto contractor Dave Smart was working behind a furnace when he discovered a box
07:40 full of World War II-era love letters.
07:43 When I first picked them up, I kind of thought,
07:46 when I had a chance to think about it, that they should go back to some family.
07:50 They were correspondence between Amy Gorman-Whitley and her husband,
07:53 Arthur. Smart spent several years as an online sleuth trying to hunt down their family.
07:59 I'm glad I've spent the time, and I'm glad they're now going to, let's say, worthwhile.
08:04 The story went viral on local news outlets,
08:07 prompting a community effort to find the family.
08:09 Thanks to their work and Ancestry.com,
08:12 the letters finally made it home to their relative, Scott Gorman, in 2020.
08:17 So it'll be great for us to learn so much about
08:20 the Gorman family that we never knew about before.
08:23 2. THE MISSING CREW OF THE LADY BE GOOD
08:26 This B-24 bomber fought in the Mediterranean, and on April 1943, the plane and her crew
08:33 disappeared on their way to an airbase on the Libyan coast.
08:37 In 1958, geologists with a British oil company discovered a wreck while flying over the Libyan
08:43 desert. It was the Lady Be Good, though there was no sign of her crew. The U.S. military
08:48 searched for their remains for months. They were finally discovered in 1960, many miles from the
08:55 crash. It appears that, after overshooting their destination, the crew bailed when the plane ran
09:00 out of fuel. Miles from the wreck, they attempted to traverse the desert. A handful made it almost
09:06 85 miles before eventually succumbing to thirst.
09:10 Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about
09:14 our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.
09:19 If you're on your phone, make sure you go into settings and switch on your notifications.
09:23 1. GLENN MILLER'S PLANE CRASH
09:29 One of the most well-known and beloved bands in America in the early 1940s,
09:33 the Glenn Miller Orchestra had reached the pinnacle of fame.
09:36 But its leader felt a sense of civic duty, so he joined the military to bolster the troop's
09:47 morale with music. Ten days before Christmas in 1944, Miller was aboard a transport plane
09:54 en route to Paris when it disappeared over the English Channel.
09:57 Yeah, you know, I mean, he takes off from an airbase in England on the way to Paris,
10:03 and his plane just vanishes. Presumably it crashes into the English Channel, but you know what?
10:08 Nobody ever found the plane.
10:10 Historian Dennis Sprague spent five years combing through military records to find the truth
10:15 about why the plane crashed. Eventually, a diary found on Antiques Roadshow provided the final clue.
10:22 The engines of Miller's small transport plane likely iced over while it was flying low after
10:28 diverting 40 miles out of the way.
10:30 The airplane turns nose down, and in eight seconds it's in the water.
10:34 Just as simple as that.
10:35 Yes.
10:36 We think we cracked the Enigma code on these mysteries,
10:39 but if there are other World War II sleuths out there with clues, let us know in the comments below.
10:44 Yes!
10:47 [Laughter]
10:51 [Music]