(KTTS News) — A sailor with ties to the Ozarks who went missing near the end of World War II will be buried this month.

Aviation Radioman 1st Class Wilbur Mitts was born in Seligman, Missouri on April 27, 1920.

He enlisted in San Francisco on August 8, 1941.

Mitts was part of a three member aircrew of a TBM-1 Avenger from Torpedo Squadron 20.

His plane took off from the USS Enterprise on September 10, 1944 as part of a pre-invasion strike against Japanese forces and installations in the Palau Islands as part of Operation Forager.

His plane was last seen crashing into the water a few hundred feet from Malakal Island.

Mitts’ remains were recovered in 2019 and 2021.

He will be buried on September 11, 2023, at approximately 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. local time, in Mission Memorial Park Cemetery, Seaside, California.

Press Release

On Sep. 10, 1944, Aviation Radioman 1st Class Wilbur Mitts was part of a three member aircrew of a TBM-1 Avenger, from Torpedo Squadron (VT) 20, that took off from USS Enterprise (CV 6) on a pre-invasion strike against Japanese forces and
installations in the Palau Islands as part of Operation Forager.

The plane was last seen spinning violently before crashing into the water a few hundred feet from Malakal Island.

All three members of the crew were lost in the incident, including Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class Anthony Di Petta and Naval Aviator Lt. Jay Manown, Jr.

On Sept. 11, 1945, Mitts was declared killed in action (KIA) and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service, the agency responsible for seeking and recovering missing American servicemen, conducted extensive searches of combat areas and crash sites in and around Palau, concluding their efforts in 1947.

Investigators were unable to discover any evidence of the aircraft.

In 2003, the BentProp Project (now Project Recover) began looking into the loss of the plane as part of the mission to locate remains of American World War II service members unaccounted for during the Pacific campaign.

After four project and two Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency investigations, the remains of the plane were
discovered just off Malakal Island.

His remains were recovered during recovery operations in 2019 and 2021.

Using forensic analysis, the remains were identified as those of ARM1c Wilbur Mitts on Feb.23.

Fellow crewman Di Petta was identified on Jan. 3, and buried in Nutley, New Jersey on July 11.

Lieutenant Manown remains in MIA status, but his case is still active.

Mitts is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

NOTE: While stationed in Norfolk in 1942, ARM1c Mitts served as escort for the remains of a fellow Sailor to Humbolt, Iowa.