VOA慢速英语--阵亡将士纪念日:讲述二战飞行员的故事

Memorial Day: Family of Lost WW II Flier Brings His Story to Life

Memorial Day in the United States is a time for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces.

Families especially want to remember the stories of relatives or ancestors who served.

For one family, the discovery of a warplane that crashed into the Pacific Ocean during World War II brought welcome knowledge about one of their own, Tom Kelly.

Kelly grew up on a farm in Northern California in the 1930s. He dreamed of becoming a cowboy. But World War II changed his plans.

Kelly enlisted¹ in the U.S. Army Air Forces. He became a 2nd lieutenant² in the crew of a B-24 bomber³.

But on March 11, 1944, Japanese anti-aircraft fire struck his plane, named Heaven Can Wait. It crashed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

The discovery of the plane wreckage⁵ has brought a new understanding of Kelly, especially among his younger relatives.

Relatives recover memory of Kelly

Scott Althaus is one of those relatives.

“This discovery of where the wreck⁴ is, of seeing pictures and videos of the wreck on the floor of Hansa Bay. My goodness, it brings closure in a way we didn’t expect,” he said.

On Memorial Day five years ago, Althaus launched a project to learn everything he could about Tom Kelly. Soon the whole family was involved.

The family wanted to know about the young serviceman on the Heaven Can Wait.

Althaus discovered a lot about the young man.

“He was a very gregarious⁶ man. He kept up correspondence with I think 38 different people stateside while he was overseas. He was just well-liked,” said Althaus.

One year ago, the Kelly family turned over what they learned to Project Recover. The group is a team of marine⁷ scientists, historians, archeologists, divers⁸ and others who are seeking military crash sites. They want to find the final resting place for those listed as Missing in Action.

Project Recover announced the discovery of the Heaven Can Wait wreckage before Memorial Day. It said the family’s research greatly assisted the search for the plane. The team used stories from eyewitnesses⁹, military reports, flight documents and personal writings of crew members.

Eric Terrill helped establish Project Recover. He also works at San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Terrill said it was the first time that the family of a missing in action (MIA) military member provided his group such support.

“The results from our efforts in Hansa Bay have stirred a mix of lasting¹⁰ emotions within our team and drives home the need to recognize the sacrifices that service members and their families make in protecting our freedoms,” Terrill said.

The team will give its findings to the Department of Defense’s POW/MIA Accounting¹¹ Agency. That office seeks to recover the remains¹² of those missing in action.

Althaus said, if his cousin’s body is recovered, the family hopes for a burial in Kelly’s hometown of Livermore, California.

And, he said, he hopes that, this Memorial Day, other families revisit the stories of their lost relatives who served in the U.S. armed forces.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

closure –n. a feeling that something has been completed or reached a conclusion

gregarious –adj. enjoying the company of other people

correspondence –n. the activity of writing letters, emails or other written communications to others

1 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

3 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

4 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

5 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

6 gregarious   

adj.群居的，喜好群居的

参考例句：

• These animals are highly gregarious.这些动物非常喜欢群居。
• They are gregarious birds and feed in flocks.它们是群居鸟类，会集群觅食。

7 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

8 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

9 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

10 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

11 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。