Thomas Lanphier's brother: another urban legend?
 

Before the famous "Yamamoto mission", on 13 April 1943, the pilots were supposedly told by Major Mitchell to keep this mission secret because Thomas Lanphier's brother was POW.
This story can be read about everywhere.
But... if Bruce Gamble (*) is right, Charles Lanphier was shot down on 28 August, ie four months after the mission's briefing.
Can anyone confirm this?
Thanks.

(*) in The Black Sheep, The definitive account of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in WWII, Random House, 1998.

Re: Thomas Lanphier's brother: another urban legend?
 

The US NARA AAD databases have these two records for Prisoners named Lanphier:
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-...24&tf=F&bc=,sl

For 26 December 1943
SERIAL NUMBER O&011933 O&011933
NAME LANPHIER CHARLES COBB LANPHIER CHARLES COBB
GRADE, ALPHA 1 LT First Lieutenant or Chief nurse or Head dietitian or Head physical therapy aides
GRADE CODE F First Lieutenant or Lt. Jr. Grade
SERVICE CODE 3 MARINE
ARM OR SERVICE MAR United States Marine Corps
ARM OR SERVICE CODE 65 MAR: UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
DATE REPORT: DAY (DD) 26 26
DATE REPORT: MONTH (MM) 12 12
DATE REPORT: YEAR (Y) 3 1943
RACIAL GROUP CODE 1 WHITE
STATE OF RESIDENCE 62 Michigan
TYPE OF ORGANIZATION
PARENT UNIT NUMBER
PARENT UNIT TYPE
AREA 46 Southwest Pacific Theatre: New Britain Island
LATEST REPORT DATE: DAY (DD) 15 15
LATEST REPORT DATE: MONTH (MM) 05 05
LATEST REPORT DATE: YEAR (Y) 4 1944
SOURCE OF REPORT 1 Individual has been reported through sources considered official.
STATUS 5 Died as Prisoner of War, Not Above Cases
DETAINING POWER 2 JAPAN
CAMP 798 Rabaul Pow Camp Rabaul, New Britain 4-152
REP
POW TRANSPORT SHIPS

Yamamoto mission was 18 April 1943

7th May 1942 - Unrelated Infantry Man in Philipines
SERIAL NUMBER 6871335 6871335
NAME LANPHIER WALTER J LANPHIER WALTER J
GRADE, ALPHA PFC Private First Class
GRADE CODE 7 Second Lieutenant or Nurse or Dietitian or Physical therapy aide or Private First Class or Ensign or Second Class, Seaman
SERVICE CODE 1 ARMY
ARM OR SERVICE INF Infantry
ARM OR SERVICE CODE 10 INF: INFANTRY
DATE REPORT: DAY (DD) 07 07
DATE REPORT: MONTH (MM) 05 05
DATE REPORT: YEAR (Y) 2 1942
RACIAL GROUP CODE
STATE OF RESIDENCE
TYPE OF ORGANIZATION
PARENT UNIT NUMBER 0031 0031
PARENT UNIT TYPE 06 Group/Regiment/Commands/System
AREA 45 Southwest Pacific Theatre: Philippine Islands
LATEST REPORT DATE: DAY (DD) 26 26
LATEST REPORT DATE: MONTH (MM) 05 05
LATEST REPORT DATE: YEAR (Y) 2 1942
SOURCE OF REPORT 1 Individual has been reported through sources considered official.
STATUS 5 Died as Prisoner of War, Not Above Cases
DETAINING POWER 2 JAPAN
CAMP 504 PW Camp #4 - O'Donnel Tarlac Luzon Philippines 15-120
REP
POW TRANSPORT SHIPS

Re: Thomas Lanphier's brother: another urban legend?
 

Thanks.
Charles is the one. So, he was reported POW 8 months after the Yamamoto mission.

Re: Thomas Lanphier's brother: another urban legend?
 

Hi, for the true facts on this famous mission you should read :-

"Attack on Yamamoto" by Carroll Glynes and "Lighting Strikes" by Donald Davies.

Lanphier seems to have been a bit of a glory hunter and pretty certainly did not shoot down Yamamoto

For many of us older guys the first account we read was in "Flames in the Sky" by Clostermann - exciting,well written but old Clo Clo was never one to let the facts spoil a good story.

Cheers

Bruce Lander

Re: Thomas Lanphier's brother: another urban legend?
 

Thanks Bruce.
After all, Le Grand Cirque is also a great aviation novel.

Re: Thomas Lanphier's brother: another urban legend?
 

You put it very nicely, Bruce. :D