A fifty-seven year search for answers and closure

as told by Jim Graham, 1st FG / 71st FS (1944-45)

PROLOGUE

 John Mullins' excellent history of the 1st Fighter Group in World War II,  "AN ESCORT OF P-38s," states that there were 280 pilots lost out of 720 that passed through the Group.  That number included those known to be killed, missing in action or captured as POWs. Some were killed without doubt in clearly witnessed catastrophic terminations of flight.  Others were considered likely killed when some doubt was harbored by witnesses.  When last sight by witnesses indicated possible survival, the missing pilot was considered missing in action.  In some cases the MIA pilots were spirited out of enemy territory by friendly forces and some returned using their ownsurvival skills.  Some were captured by the enemy and impounded as POW's. In all cases, time hangs heavily upon those who were their comrades and upon the family and loved ones.  The oppressive silence that persists after declarations of KIAs and MIAs really only endsor is broken when the lucky ones reappear--or when the remains of the unlucky ones are returnedto those who loved them. This story is about the 57 year wait for the family of 2nd Lt. William O. Wisner, 71st Fighter Squadron/1st FG to have the painful silence of his loss broken with definitive discovery of  his earthly remains. His niece,  Diana Dale,  challenged that silence and was rewarded against great odds.  She has written her own story of the saga with the full force and compassion that only the family of a lost hero can express.  She is waiting for the final page to be written when the CILHI confirms via DNA tests that the recovered remains are those of her uncle Bill,  before she declares their LOST has been FOUND. The Internet and the genuine humanity that can be discovered through it made all this possible.