Carroll Napier Langston, Jr.
Over on my genealogy blog, I’ve just posted some information on my overall impressions of FootNote.com and some of the potential I see with it. As I was exploring the site, I decided to do a search for information on Carroll Napier Langston, Jr. His paternal grandmother, Ida M. Napier Langston, was a sister to James Carroll Napier.
One of the collections I noticed in FootNote was one titled, Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs) of the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1941-1948. In the course of my research, I knew that Carroll N. Langston Jr. had gone missing during WWII and his body was found a couple of weeks after he went missing. Wanting to see if I could find him in this resource, I did a search. His name is rather unique, so I was able to readily identify him in the results. I am deeply moved by what I found.
A report from September 19, 1944 provides an account from the person that found his body, Captain Samuel R. Center. While he was on reconnaissance with 5 others, he found a body that had washed up to the beach of the Adriatic Sea near Pineta, Italy on June 26, 1944. The account describes everything that they found on his body, information about how they buried him and a detailed description of where they buried him. On his person were items such as his ID tags, his pilot wings, a metal cigarette case, and his watch. They buried him “…about 750 feet south of railroad flag station no. 331, 200 feet from railroad track towards sea; 65 feet towards sea from second concrete post of barbed wire fence. Wow.
There were witnesses to the incident. — Lts. Maurice V. Easters, Ulysses S. Taylor, and Harold E. Sawyer. Lt. Sawyer reported that Carroll called in saying that he had engine trouble. Carroll was unable to keep up in flight, so Saywer left his route to fly with Carroll. Carroll was not able to keep the plane up, so decided to bail out, but something went wrong with his chute. It did not inflate all the way and Sawyer saw Carroll hanging on to the side of the plane. Sawyer could not stay with him because of low fuel, but notified Air Rescue. Carroll’s plane crashed about 10 miles off the coast of San Benedetti, Italy. The paperwork even includes a hand-drawn map of where his plane went down.
I really feel like I need a moment of silence after reading through all of this. Can you imagine finding this level of detail for a relative? These documents were previously confidential - I am so glad they have been opened up for public use.
If you have a FootNote account, you can view the images here.
Hi Taneya,
God bless you for your diligent efforts in your continued search of our family members. Finding the MACR was really a great find and does much to further the sharing of family history.
Of note to this, particulary as this new information suggests that Lt. Carroll Napier Langston Jr. is still buried at that location in Italy, my trip to Greenwood Cemetery in Nashville TN a couple of years ago to visit the Napier family plot revealed Lt. Langston’s headstone and the following birth and death detail:
Sept 25, 1917
June 7, 1944
He is buried between John M. Langston (Dec 10,1879) and Vivian Cashin Langston (no death date - marker No. 580 or 680)
This of couse raises the question if he is still buried in Italy or was eventually recovered and brought home. Given the social and economic status of the Napier family, it is very possible that the latter is the case; or perhaps he is still overseas.
If his remains were returned home for burial this would have most likely been news generating material and I wonder if such an account exists in some of the Nashville or other news papers of the time.
Anna and I appreciate all that you do Cuz.
Thank you Taneya for sharing that story with us,I don’t have footnote but I am planning on trying it out later on. Anna
Wow..that gave me chills!!!
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