RELEASED BY:Lt Col. Greg Hapgood

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER
OFFICE:   (515) 252-4582
CELL:       (515) 971-6385
HOME:     (515) 986-5725

RELEASE: IMMEDIATE

IOWA WWII AVIATOR RETURNS HOME 62 YEARS LATER
FOLLOWING NEW GUINEA CRASH DISCOVERY

Almost 62 years after his B-24D Liberator vanished on a routine training exercise during World War II, Staff Sgt. Walter “Wally” S. Knudsen is coming home to Iowa. Knudsen, a 21-year old B-24 gunner from Sioux City, disappeared with eight other crewmembers on Oct. 9, 1944. In 2003, a villager walking through the thick foliage of the rain forest in Papua, New Guinea discovered U.S. servicemember identification tags and returned them to the U.S. Embassy in New Guinea. A Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) Recovery Element located and excavated the crash site, recovering the remains of the nine crewmembers of “Mr. Five by Five,” or aircraft PP-00254. All nine crewmembers were killed when their bomber crashed into a cloud-covered mountainside, 11 miles southwest of Lae, New Guinea.

Knudsen was born April 23, 1923 in Goodwin, Neb., the youngest of three children born to Samuel and Hanna Knudsen. The family moved from Goodwin to Hubbard County and then to their ancestral family farm northwest of Jackson, Neb. before settling in Sioux City around 1931. Knudsen attended Central High School and graduated June 5, 1941. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps (now known as the U.S. Air Force) July 23, 1941, and was later assigned to the 360th Air Services Group, Far East Air Forces, New Guinea.

Knudsen is survived by brothers Harold Knudsen and John and Howard Knox, five nieces, eight nephews, and many cousins. His mother and father, stepfather John Knox, and sister Clara, are also deceased.

- Media Information for Visitation and Funeral –

A prayer service and visitation will be held at Christy-Smith Funeral Home, 1801 Morningside Ave, Sioux City, on Friday, April 21, 6:30-9 p.m. The graveside service, with full military honors, will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 22 at Memorial Park Cemetery, 6605 Morningside Avenue, Sioux City. Guests are invited to join the procession leaving the funeral home at 12:15 P.M., proceeding to the service. The public is welcome to attend the procession and graveside ceremony. A reception will follow at Christy-Smith Funeral Home. Donations may be given at the funeral home or mailed to the Walter S. Knudsen Memorial Fund at Security National Bank, 601 Pierce Street, Sioux City, Iowa 51106.

Media are invited to attend the graveside ceremony on Saturday; points of contact are Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood and Master Sgt. Duff McFadden (see contact information below).

For questions concerning this release as well as additional information about the Knudsen services, please contact Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, Iowa National Guard Public Affairs Officer by email at gregory.hapgood@ia.ngb.army.mil or (515) 252-4582 (office), (515) 971-6385 (cell), or (515) 986-5725 (home). You may also contact Master Sgt. Duff E. McFadden, at (515) 252-4666 (office), (515) 480-7647 (cell), (515) 251-7335 (home), or by e-mail at duff.mcfadden@ia.ngb.army.mil.

IOWA NATIONAL GUARD
Americans at Their Best