Kingwood man who was killed in WWII accounted for

KINGWOOD, W.Va. (WBOY) — A Kingwood man whose plane was shot down during World War II has been accounted for after 79 years, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Monday.

U.S. Navy Reserve Lieutenant Jay R. Manown Jr., 26, of Kingwood, was an aviator assigned to Navy Torpedo Squadron 20. Manown and two other crew members took off in a TBM-1C Avenger from the USS Enterprise on Sept. 10, 1944, to conduct air strikes against enemy targets in Malakal Naval District, Palau Islands, the DPAA said.

Those aboard other aircraft in their formation saw Manown’s plane struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crash into the water near Malakal, the DPAA said. They did not report seeing any indication that Manown or the other crewmembers were able to get out of the aircraft.

After efforts to recover the men’s remains were unsuccessful, and the American Graves Registration Service, which searched for and recovered fallen American personnel, concluded its search in the summer of 1947 with no evidence of Manown or his aircraft, he was declared non-recoverable on July 16, 1949.

The BentProp Project, which is now known as Project Recover and members from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the University of Delaware investigated the crash site between 2003 and 2018. It then underwent three excavations Ships of Exploration and Discovery Research (SHIPS) in May 2019, Project Recover and Legion Undersea Services in Sept. 2021 and by Project Recover and Legion in July 2023.

The evidence collected from the excavations was sent to the DPAA laboratory and in 2023, the lab scientifically identified the remains of the other crewmen on Manown’s plane. Scientists from the DPAA used “anthropological and circumstantial” analysis, as well as mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify Manown’s remains, the release said.

Manown was accounted for on May 23, 2024, and the DPAA sent a press release following his family’s receipt of their full briefing on his identification.

To indicate that he’s been accounted for, a rosette will be placed next to Manown’s name on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.

Manown’s remains will be buried on Oct. 29, 2024, in Kingwood, according to the DPAA release. Family and funeral information is available at the Army Casualty Office at 800-892-2490.

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