Yap Visitors Bureau is making a concerted effort to
promote the research and preservation of Yap’s World
War II history. Patrick Ranfranz who has actively researched
out much of this history, has recorded this valuable
history on his web site www.MissingAirCrew.com .
Patrick and his wife Cherie, along with Mark Noah recently
visited Yap and assisted the Bureau in saving the wreckage
of a F6F-5 Hellcat from a government landfill project.
This aircraft was a VF-20 F6F-5 Hellcat off the USS
Enterprise lost over Yap on September 6, 1944. The aircraft
was flown by Ensign Joseph E. Cox. Ensign Cox's remains
were recovered and he is buried in a private cemetery
in Idaho.
