80 years after disappearing, lost WWII airman’s plane is found
By EMMA ROSE BROWN THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT •
On June 12, 1940 — just over a year before the U.S. was drawn into World War II — 19-year-old Ernest Pugh joined the Army. He was a new graduate of Botetourt High School in Gloucester and was stationed at what was then called Langley Field. In May 1942, Pugh was shipped off to Australia to support the war effort. He was a member of the 30th Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group. On the stormy night of Sept. 15, 1942, he flew with a group of B-17s out of an airfield near Port Moresby on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea over the Owen Stanley mountains, and up to East New Britain to attack Rabaul, home to a large Japanese military base. Pugh’s B-17 lost contact with their base shortly after takeoff. At 1:30 the next morning, the crew was declared missing in action. Neither Pugh nor the nine others aboard were ever heard from again. On Jan. 7, 1946, they were officially declared deceased.
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https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2025-08-30/lost-wwii-plane-found-80-years-airman-disappearance-18927732.htmlSource - Stars and Stripes
