Burdette Clark Goodrich was born on 27. Oct. 1917 at Colfax, Whitman County, Washington. He was the son of
Walter Roland Goodrich and
Dora Rosella Conover. Burdette Clark Goodrich died on 27. Feb. 1945 at Rangoon Prison Camp, Burma, at age 27.
Oceanside man joins campaign to find WWII MIAs
By: JESSICA MUSICAR - for the North County Times
Jim Goodrich was only 10 years old when his eldest brother died in the Japanese Rangoon Prison Camp at the end of World War II.
Captured and shot in the neck by Burmese men after crashing his airplane into a rice paddy a mile west of Pyinchaung, Burma, 1st Lt. Burdette Goodrich spent seven months in the camp before dying of colitis, malnutrition and dysentery, according to Army files given to the family.
Buried for a short while after his death, the body of Burdette Goodrich was exhumed along with the bodies of dozens of other soldiers; they were brought back to the United States for proper burial. Placed on a C-47B cargo plane, the bodies and the craft made their way to Calcutta, India, and suddenly disappeared.
Since May 17, 1946, what happened to the airplane, its crew and the remains of the dead soldiers has been a mystery. Jim Goodrich, 70, who lives in Oceanside, said the remains of approximately 53 bodies ---- including passengers and crew ---- are thought to be on the plane.
Looking at sepia-toned photographs of his brother in uniform, standing with his fighter plane "Duffy #2," named for Burdette Goodrich's wife, Jim Goodrich says his brother still has a burial plot waiting for him in Washington, his home state.
Goodrich is just one of several relatives searching for the final resting place of the C-47 in hopes of bring their soldiers home.
Led by Lisa Phillips, a woman in Maine who in 2001 began a search for the remains of her great uncle, also on the C-47, the group is spearheading a campaign to not only find out what happened, but to gain more federal funds for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which conducts searches for living soldiers, or the remains of dead soldiers, from World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Gulf War.
JPAC's mission is to track all missing Americans lost during previous wars.
According to the JPAC Web site, approximately 78,000 Americans are missing from World War II. Of that number, an estimated 35,000 are deemed recoverable, with the others lost at sea or entombed in sunken vessels.
Phillips also has been searching for the families of the missing, hoping that their united voices will help expedite the location and recovery of the missing plane.
"She wants to bring these 'heroes' home ---- she believes that is what they deserve," Goodrich said. "It's taken on a life of its own and it just keeps growing on us."
Phillips is lobbying Congress for more World War II research, investigation and recovery of fallen troops. She has written up a petition that she is hoping to spread across the United States for signatures to lobby for her effort.
"I had two choices here ---- I could complain about the system or I could do something to try to make it better for everyone and most of all for our fallen heroes," Phillips said. "These wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews have never given up hope of having their soldiers brought home.
JPAC spokeswoman Erika Ruthman said her organization has a $46 million budget and conducts 10 World War II searches per year.
JPAC has 18 recovery teams, 10 dedicated to those missing from the war in Southeast Asia, five dedicated to the Korean War, and three committed to recovering missing Americans from World War II, the Cold War and the Gulf War.
Johnie Webb, the senior adviser to the commanding general of JPAC, said time is more limited than money.
More than one team can be at each mission, and may cover more than one country per mission. Teams are deployed in excess of six months per year depending on the mission, he said.
"That's about all we can fit into a year," Webb said.
Webb said he was aware of Phillips' effort to raise money for his organization. However, when putting together its annual budget, the organization receives what it needs to operate. Additional funding, if needed, comes from the Navy.
He said he appreciates Phillips' work, and believes it highlights JPAC in case more funding is needed.
"She has a mission that she wants to see accomplished and she thinks we need more money," Webb said.
Phillips said that when she started her search for the remains of her great uncle, all she knew was his name, 2nd Lt. Joseph C. Rich, and that he had died at the hands of the Japanese.
But with some research, everything began to unfold. A navigator aboard a B-24 Liberator in the China-Burma-India theater, Rich was shot down on Nov. 27, 1943. He was taken to the Rangoon Prison Camp where he died less than a year later weighing 80 pounds. His body was on the same plane as Goodrich's, she said.
Based on the airplane's last contact and flight speed, Phillips estimates the plane went down in Bangladesh. She said she has met with the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington to discuss the possibility of this aircraft being in their country.
Because Goodrich was so young when his brother died, he did his best to put the sad memory behind him, leaving responsibilities such as keeping his brother's medals to other siblings. For the most part, he succeeded in ignoring the incident until last year, when a great-nephew did a report on the subject, and he and Phillips made contact.
"To me, it was just a bad experience during the time I was growing up," Goodrich said. "It's not something I find pleasant; (these are) not good memories."
He said Phillips finally convinced him two months ago that the plane she was searching for and the one that contained his brother's remains were one and the same.
Although he doubts that the plane will ever be discovered or that his brother's remains will ever rest in the United States, Goodrich said he hopes that it will happen, simply to give closure to the many families involved, including his own.