Four hundred thirty US Air Force pilots and other servicemen are documented to be missing in action over India during World War II.
NEW DELHI: Four hundred thirty US Air Force pilots and other servicemen are documented to be missing in action over India during World War II and Pentagon in a first of its kind of request wants New Delhi's assistance to help locate them in Arunachal Pradesh.
American servicemen went missing while flying, bombing and transport missions to China and Myanmar from thickly forested areas near the Sino-Indian and Indo-Mynmar border, where allied troops were locked in decisive battles against the Japanese army offensive.
A high level US delegation led by Rear Admiral Donna L Crisp, Commander of the Honolulu-based Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command met Defence Secretary Vijay Singh with the request and later said New Delhi's reaction was "spontaneous".
"Last recorded signals from these aircraft give these locations and these have been documented in US military records," Crisp, a lady officer, told newsmen here.
The US request comes close on the heels of reports from Arunachal capital Itanagar where locals are have sighted some World War II wreckages in Lohit and Debang valleys.
India is not the only country which the US has approached for a joint hunt for its war heroes. In China, the Americans have been launching such joint missions with Chinese forces since 1994.
An Arunachal guide, Oken Tayang, has claimed in Itanagar that he had spotted wreckages of eight USAF World War II planes and belongings of some of the pilots missing in Action.
These are the sightings that have brought the Americans here to seek Indian defence ministry's help and cooperation in locating the wreckages and to carry the remain of the dead pilots and other servicemen to their next of kin for burial at home.
Crisp ruled out any prospects of sending joint Indo-US large expeditionary teams to the mountains and forests of Aurnachal Pradesh.
"We want help from the Indian army to tell us how to train our small teams to go to such high altitude terrains" the US Woman Admiral said.
India and US experts plan to have another meeting in the summer before planning to send smaller joint teams to look for the remains of the pilots and other servicemen.
According to US Military estimates, there are 78,000 still missing in action from the World War II, but only 35,000 are deemed recoverable. In addition, US teams carry out similar search missions for over 8,100 missing in Korean War, 1,800 in Vietnam War, 120 in the cold war and a lone serviceman in the Gulf war.
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