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Vow to turn over bodies fails to stop WWII plane fightSEBAGO LAKE. Maine (AP) — A lawyer for a company that wants to salvage World War II planes from the bottom of Sebago Lake said he would turn over any remains of the pilots so they could be properly buried.But that assurance doesn’t ap pease U.S. and United Kingdom officials, who are embroiled in a legal fight over the remains of two British Royal Navy pilots, who were both 19 when theirplanes collided and plunged into the lake on May 16, 1944.A'n adventurous w'reck hunter and a wealthy aircraft collector have found at least one of the Cor sairs at the bottom of Sebago. The fate of the two fighter planes and the pilots’ remains is the sub ject of an international legal dis pute over ownership and a philosophical clash over how to best honor the men.“We still plan to go recover twoCorsairs from Sebago Lake and, if any human remains are en countered, to treat them with all respect and dignity and turn them over to the local authorities and would expect them to be buried with full military honors, said Peter Hess, lawyer for the Historic Aircraft Restoration Corp.But Hess will first have to per severe in U.S. District Court in Portland, where the governmentof the United Kingdom is protest ing the effort. The governments of Maine and the United States are supporting Britain’s effort to prevent the war grave from being disturbed.“I don’t know of another situa tion where any court has al lowed commercial exploitation of a military grave site,” said James Gould, a Washington. D.C. based lawyer representing the British.
Newspaper Details
Portsmouth Herald
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US
Tue, Jul 15, 2003
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NH, USA 24 Jul 2020
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