Chapter 2 - Bill's Niece

Mrs. Diana Dale of Denver, Colorado is Bill's Niece. In 1994 as the 50th anniversary of Lt. Bill Wisner's crash and disappearance approached, Diana was poking through a family trunk where memorabilia about her Uncle Bill Wisner were stored. There had never been any clear resolution of his fate and Diana was acutely aware of the pain her grandmother and mother, Maxine had endured through the years. She resolved to help heal that pain by investigating the circumstances of Uncle Bill's untimely death. Diana read and re-read letters and reports her grandmother had received from Bill and the Army.

With the knowledge that he had been in the 1st FG/71st FS, she found that a reunion of the 1st Ftr. Group Association was to be held in Colorado Springs that fall. She, accompanied by her parents attended the reunion and talked with John Mullins, then the President of the Association. John was able to provide her with copies of the October 20, 1944 mission reports. He also flew that mission as a flight leader in the 94th , but had not witnessed the accident. Diana found that Sid Howell, (71st), who was at the reunion, knew of Bill Wisner, and had flown several missions with him, but knew very little about him. From John Mullins, she found that her Uncle Bill's name was on the memorial wall at the American military cemetery in Florence, Italy. Diana was somewhat disheartened that no one she encountered at Colorado Springs was acquainted with her uncle, but she was determined to continue the search for the facts of his loss.

The Internet was beginning to blossom as a new source of data and a new means of communication. Diana worked for a Denver newspaper and became involved with computers and the Internet. On May 1, 1998, she posted a message on the 'wae.com' bulletin board, a broad based site allowing various categories of messages to be exchanged. Diana's message on the 'military' category bulletin board was:

"Looking for anyone who might have known my uncle, Lt. William O. Wisner, who flew P-38's out of Foggia starting 9/14/44. He flew 10 missions (Budapest, Munich, Athens, Vienna, Blackheimer(sic), Brussels(sic), Regensburg). Was MIA over Bolzano on return from Regensburg on 10/20/44. I know he was short-lived over there, but would love to hear from anyone who knew him or remembered how he went down. His mother was never able to resolve his loss due to incomplete info on his disappearance. Thanks."

On May 3, a John Hadfield posted a short reply referring Diana to Robin Hansen as acontact for the 1st Fighter Group and wishing her good luck in her search. Having attended the 1944 reunion of the 1st in Colorado, Diana awaited other inputs. There was no further response until over 9 months later when Steve Duncan, (71st ), happened on her message. Steve had been aware of search activity that had been in progress for several months related to Carl Hoenshell, (71st ) and knew that Jim Graham, (71st ), author of this article, had been involved in that search and was doing research on the history of the Group & his squadron. On Feb. 15, 1999, Duncan emailed Diana via the 'wae.com' channel and acknowledged that his response was rather belated, but advised her to contact Jim Graham and then followed up with an email to Graham to alert him to the referral. (Graham flew with the 71st FS as did Bill Wisner, but Bill joined the squadron just 3 months prior to Graham and was lost the week before his arrival.) The following day, Diana emailed Jim and introduced herself and her quest with a modest plea for help---

"I'm sure I have all the information available to date about his disappearance, including a copy of the mission report, however I'd appreciate your keeping my name and email address, in case you run across something new. I understand they're still finding wreckage in remote parts of Europe, so you never know….."

Jim's research at the U.S. National Archives had provided him with copies of all of the mission reports for the 1st Fighter Group and for the 71st Squadron as well as the Missing Air Crew Reports for 1st FG pilots lost. Diana's quest for her uncle's fate sparked a new vein of interest for Jim and , in particular, the unique case of three in the 71st being lost in the single incident compelled him to comb his data concerning that October 20 mission. He responded to Diana immediately giving her a brief summary of the efforts in the Carl Hoenshell case which seemed to be progressing toward some definitive results, and giving her encouragement that sources and contacts similar to those employed in the Hoenshell case might produce information that she sought regarding her uncle, Bill Wisner. Jim assured her that he would keep her quest and her name and address in mind-- 'on the chance we come up with any more information'.

On March 2,1999 Jim advised Diana to obtain her uncle's Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) from the Army's mortuary affairs offices in Arlington, VA. That file would contain the complete set of correspondence and records concerning the deceased military person subsequent to the event of his disappearance or death and through the final termination of government's dealings with the relatives of the subject. The equivalent file for Hoenshell had been helpful in that search.