*** Released by Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Marianas Public Affairs Office***


Son’s Quest Leads Island To Remember Heroes
By Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathanael T. Miller
Naval Media Support Center Marianas
For the Pacific Navigator

Santa Rita, Guam (11 May 2005) - The journey of a son to honor the father he never knew became
an odyssey that led him halfway around the world to Guam and to a reception of which he never
dreamed.

Sixty years ago, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bomber, serial number 42-63571,
experienced an engine fire after takeoff from North Field, plunged towards the waters north of Guam
and exploded, killing all 11 men on board.

The body of the pilot, 2nd Lt. Clarence W. Halteman Jr., was recovered and eventually buried in
Hawaii, but the other 10 crewmembers still remain with their plane on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

William Francis Arnett Jr. was co-pilot of that plane, and his son,“Bill” Willis, would never know his
father: 2nd Lt. Arnett died two months before his son was born.
His mother remarried, and Willis said he did not seriously begin to pursue research on the lost crew until
a few years ago out of respect for his stepfather. His passion to publicly recognize this forgotten band of
airmen grew as he began trying to preserve family history for his children. “I felt it was appropriate to
do,” Willis said.

Willis explained the death of his father and the rest of the crew was full of the tragic irony one seems to
find only in war. The “Halteman Crew,” named for the aircraft’s commander, had ferried a brand-new
B-29 bomber to Guam from the United States mainland in 1945, but that plane was then given to a
more experienced and senior group of fliers.

They were eventually assigned aircraft number 42-63571, which itself had been ferried to Guam in
February 1945. After two missions scrubbed due to weather, the Halteman Crew took off on May 11,
1945 for their very first combat mission; number 42-63571 had returned from completing a combat
mission in Japan just 12 hours before. About a half mile off shore from North Field, which is today on
Andersen Air Force Base, the mission went tragically wrong; the engine exploded and the aircraft
crashed into the ocean, killing all aboard.

“The crew that ferried that plane to Guam were the ones who witnessed its crash,” Willis said.

As his research project grew, Willis realized his focus had changed. “I knew quite a bit about my father,
but wanted to know about the other guys,” he said.

After locating and contacting the families of nine crewmembers, Willis learned he was most likely the
only child of any of the fallen crew. “Only four out of the 11 were married,” Willis explained.

As the 60th anniversary of the crash approached, Willis began working to memorialize his father and his
father’s crewmates.

He and his wife, Mary Lou, envisioned a small ceremony: laying a plaque over the ocean crash site, or
perhaps having a small memorial dedicated on land. After contacting the Department of Defense and
the Guam Historical Society, the efforts by both the military and Guam’s civil government staggered
them, Willis said.

May 11 began with a joint memorial by the Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force at the crash location.

The Willis couple and some guests watched on board the locally based U.S. Coast Guard Cutter
Galveston Island as Andersen Air Force Base’s Blue Knights honor guard performed a flag-folding
ceremony, presenting the flag to Mr. Willis as the next-of-kin for the fallen crew.

As they drifted over the site where his father’s remains now rest, Willis and his wife cast a floral wreath
and a plaque covered with family mementoes—including his son’s U.S. Marines Corps coin, his own
ID card and badge from his time as a state trooper, and a device from his father’s World War II
uniform cover—into the sea.  

Lt. Cmdr. Dan Link, Naval Base Guam staff chaplain, then delivered a brief eulogy, after which the
Blue Knights fired a volley and played “Taps” in salute to their fallen predecessors.

With his voice breaking, Willis concluded the observance by thanking the three service branches for
combining forces to support him.

Willis’ efforts also resulted in a permanent monument placed at the Ricardo J. Bordallo Governor’s
Complex at Adelup. Guam historian Tony Ramirez, granted permission by Governor of Guam Felix
Camacho, commissioned a monument built of native stones taken from Guam’s battlefields and topped
by a black granite slab engraved with the lost crew’s names.

Speaking at the monument’s dedication, Willis, himself a Marine and a veteran of the Vietnam War,
again said how “overwhelming” the island’s response had been, and gave a special acknowledgement to
all the island’s war veterans present.

Military service members were moved by the ceremonies and their chance to recognize the efforts of
long-forgotten comrades. “This is a great opportunity,” said Coast Guard Lt. Jeremy Dubay,
commander of USCGC Galveston Island. “This is exactly the right thing to do.”