A
Marine
on
St.
Croix
man
finally
learns
the
airman's
World
War
II
plane
crashed
—
and
that
villagers
buried
Kenneth
Seidel's
body.
Updated: 08/31/2009
12:25:45
AM
CDT
It's
been
more
than
60
years
since
Loren
Seidel's
brother
disappeared
somewhere
over
the
Himalayas.
He
always
wondered
what
happened,
imagining
his
brother
—
a
World
War
II
airman
—
had
been
captured
as
a
prisoner
of
war.
But
earlier
this
year,
Loren
got
the
call
he'd
stopped
hoping
for
long
ago.
"We
never
thought
we'd
hear
anything
like
this,
that
they
discovered
his
airplane,"
Loren,
83,
said
last
week
at
his
Marine
on
St.
Croix
home.
An
American
mountaineer
had
discovered
the
crash
site
of
a
World
War
II
cargo
plane
in
remote
north-east
India.
Among
its
four-member
crew
had
been
its
flight
engineer,
Pfc.
Kenneth
L.
Seidel,
of
St.
Paul.
Loren
said
it
feels
good
to
finally
get
some
news
about
his
big
brother.
He
and
his
sister,
Dorothy
Buhl,
81,
of
Oakdale,
hope
Kenneth's
remains
might
be
recovered
and
one
day
make
it
home
for
a
proper
burial,
though
military
officials
haven't
promised
anything.
On
Saturday,
Loren
and
his
wife,
Ellen,
84,
attended
an
update
by
the
Department
of
Defense
in
the
Twin
Cities
for
families
of
MIA/POW
soldiers.
They
learned
a
lot,
Ellen
said.
Though
military
representatives
spoke
of
possible
upcoming
recovery
missions,
they
didn't
specifically
name
Kenneth's
site.
Many
planes
went
down
there,
and
each
crash
site
is
quite
large,
Ellen
said.
"(Loren)
says
that
—
and
I
think
we
both
feel
—
it's
a
big
question
of
whether
they'd
(Kenneth's
remains)
come
back
or
not,"
Ellen
said
after
the
meeting.
"To
me
it
would
be
a
big
surprise
if
there
was
something,
but
it
would
be
nice.
For
Loren's
sake
and
for
Dorothy's
sake,
it
would
be
nice
if
they
found
something."
The
Seidels
haven't
given
up
hope
of
interring
Kenneth's
remains
beneath
the
stone
already
bearing
his
name,
next
to
his
mother
at
Oakland
Cemetery
in
St.
Paul.
But
they
recognize
that
it
could
be
years
before
that
happens.
Loren
was
just
17
when
Kenneth's
plane
disappeared
in
the
China-Burma-India
theatre
(Burma
is
now
known
as
Myanmar).
Loren
was
in
boot
camp
for
the
Marine
Corps,
and
went
on
to
serve
in
the
war.
'ALUMINUM
ALLEY'
Records
show
the
plane,
a
C-46A
with
serial
number
41-24739,
took
off
from
Kunming,
China
on
Jan.
29,
1944,
but
never
showed
up
at
its
destination
in
India.
The
family
never
received
personal
effects
or
word
of
how
Kenneth's
plane
might
have
gone
down.
Just
a
telegram
declaring
him
missing
shortly
after
his
disappearance.
He
was
officially
declared
dead
on
April
10,
1945
—
what
would
have
been
his
25th
birthday.
The
plane
was
flying
"the
Hump,"
as
it
was
known,
a
common
and
dangerous
route
over
the
Himalaya
Mountains
for
transporting
supplies
to
China
during
the
war.
The
area
was
so
notorious
for
claiming
planes
it
was
dubbed
Aluminum
Alley.
Mountaineer
Clayton
Kuhles
discovered
the
crash
site
in
October
of
last
year.
Kuhles,
55,
a
businessman
from
Prescott,
Ariz.,
began
exploring
the
China-Burma-India
theater
region
in
2000,
and
has
logged
15
similar
crash-site
discoveries
—
all
American
planes
from
the
second
world
war.
"I
found
out
that
no
one
had
ever
gone
looking
for
these
men,"
said
Kuhles,
reached
at
home
last
week.
"I
decided
to
make
it
a
personal
crusade
of
mine.
I've
just
taken
on
the
project,
and
it's
become
a
real
passion
of
mine."
To
track
down
the
family
members
of
missing
soldiers,
Kuhles
enlisted
the
help
of
Gary
Zaetz,
whose
uncle
was
lost
in
the
war.
Zaetz
was
like
the
Seidels
—
more
curious
than
hopeful
—
when
he
came
across
Kuhles'
Web
site,
miarecoveries.org.
"I
was
just
stunned,"
said
Zaetz,
54,
of
Cary,
N.C.
"I
didn't
expect
to
find
any
information
like
this
at
all.
I
was
just
hoping
to
find
something
on
my
uncle's
war
record,
and
there
was
Clayton's
Web
site
saying
he
had
found
my
uncle's
plane."
It
was
Zaetz
who
called
the
Seidels
in
February
about
Kuhles'
discovery.
RELIEF
HE
WASN'T
TAKEN
PRISONER
For
them,
the
news
was
bittersweet.
"I
got
a
call.
He
said,
'I'm
calling
about
Kenneth
Seidel,'
"
Ellen
recalled.
"I
said,
'I
just
buried
him.'
"
The
Seidels
had
named
their
first
son
after
Loren's
brother.
The
younger
Kenneth
was
a
Vietnam
veteran
and
died
just
a
week
before
they
were
contacted
about
the
discovery.
"I
wish
he
had
lived
to
..."
Ellen
said,
tearing
up.
At
first,
Loren
and
Ellen
thought
the
call
was
a
hoax.
They
thought
someone
had
seen
the
obituary
and
was
preying
on
them.
Family
members
cautioned
that
the
caller
probably
was
just
looking
for
money.
But
an
Internet-savvy
granddaughter
guided
the
Seidels
through
Kuhles'
Web
site,
which
contained
photos
of
the
crash
site,
names
of
crewmembers
and
similar
details
for
the
other
missing
World
War
II
planes
he's
discovered.
"Then
I
did
feel
it
was
real,"
Loren
said.
According
to
Kuhles'
written
report,
the
plane
crashed
in
a
jungle-covered
area
near
the
Indian
village
of
Rilu,
in
the
state
of
Arunachal
Pradesh.
It
was
seen
approaching
from
the
north,
struck
the
crest
of
the
hill
and
slid
into
a
ravine.
Kuhles
met
a
local
woman
who
witnessed
the
crash.
She
said
the
plane
was
on
fire
when
it
slid
down
the
mountainside.
She
and
other
Indian
villagers
buried
the
crewmembers
on
site,
Loren
said.
The
news
was
a
relief,
at
long
last.
"Loren
always
wondered,"
Ellen
said.
"(When
he
learned)
they
were
buried
on
site,
it
gave
him
peace
of
mind
that
he
wasn't
captured
(by
the
enemy).
It
gives
us
peace
of
mind
that
that
didn't
happen."
74,000
STILL
MISSING
Kuhles
funds
each
of
his
trips
independently,
with
help
from
donations
from
thankful
families
here
and
there.
Although
he
reports
each
of
his
discoveries
to
the
Joint
POW/MIA
Accounting
Command
—
an
arm
of
the
Department
of
Defense
whose
responsibility
is
recovering
military
remains
—
Kuhles
gets
no
help
or
funding
from
the
federal
government.
JPAC
officials
say
they're
aware
of
the
work
Kuhles
has
done
and
are
working
on
making
recoveries
in
that
region.
They
were
negotiating
with
the
Indian
government
when
Kuhles
announced
his
discoveries,
said
JPAC
spokesman
Lt.
Col.
Wayne
Perry.
The
group
is
planning
a
recovery
mission
in
that
area
this
fall,
Perry
said.
"We
generally
do
about
100
or
so
missions
a
year,
spread
across
all
three
conflicts
(World
War
II
and
Vietnam
and
Korean
wars),"
Perry
said.
"We're
pretty
successful,
but
it
doesn't
always
mean
we
bring
something
home.
And
just
because
we
bring
remains
home
this
year,
doesn't
mean
we
can
ID
them
this
year."
The
mountains
in
the
CBI
theater
reach
more
than
25,000
feet
in
some
spots.
The
C-46A
topped
out
at
24,500
feet.
The
low-flying
cargo
planes
often
had
to
weave
through
mountaintops
in
treacherous
weather
conditions.
It's
believed
that
several
hundred
planes
were
lost
in
Aluminum
Alley
and
more
than
1,300
crewmen
are
unaccounted
for,
Perry
said.
The
number
of
American
World
War
II
personnel
still
missing
is
74,384,
he
said.
Kuhles
and
Zaetz
are
committed
to
helping
as
many
families
as
possible
find
closure
for
the
soldiers
and
pilots
who
went
missing
in
that
region.
"I
expect
to
continue
helping
(Kuhles)
locate
relatives
for
as
long
as
I
live,"
Zaetz
said.
"It's
just
that
important
that
we
remember
the
sacrifice
that
these
airmen
made."
Elizabeth
Mohr
can
be
reached
at
651-228-5162.