Biden says uncle shot down over area populated by cannibals in World War Two
Reuters
Published Apr 17, 2024 04:07PM ET
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Wednesday raised the possibility that an uncle who served in the Pacific campaign during World War Two might have fallen victim to cannibals after his plane was shot down over New Guinea.
Biden made the comment after visiting a missing-in-action war memorial in his childhood home city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and putting his hand on the engraved name of Ambrose Finnegan, whose plane was shot down and whose body was never recovered.
"He flew single-engine planes, reconnaissance flights over New Guinea. He had volunteered because someone couldn't make it. He got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals in New Guinea at the time," Biden told reporters in Scranton moments after visiting the granite memorial.
"They never recovered his body. But the government went back, when I went down there, and they checked and found some parts of the plane and the like," he said.
Biden again related the story about the man he called "Uncle Bosie" at a separate event as a riposte to the reported comment from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that "suckers and losers" die in combat. Trump has denied making the comment.
Getting emotional when talking about his son, Beau, who died in 2015 of brain cancer that the president has connected to his son's military service in Iraq, Biden told the audience of union steelworkers that Trump did not deserve to be commander in chief again.
The comments came at the end of a nostalgic two-day trip to the key battleground state of Pennsylvania for the president as he seeks reelection, including spending 90 minutes at his childhood home in Scranton.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.