Joe Biden suggested his war hero uncle may have met a gruesome end among savage cannibals after being shot down in Papua New Guinea in the Second World War.
The president said there were “a lot of cannibals at that time” in the area where his uncle Ambrose J. Finnegan’s plane was shot down in the 1940s, and his remains were never located.
Biden made the comments during a trip to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he visited a war memorial named after his heroic relative, known to the family as ‘Uncle Bosie.’
The president said: ‘(He) was shot dead in an area where there were many cannibals at the time. They never recovered his body.
“But the government came back when I was there and they checked and found parts of the plane and things like that.”
President Joe Biden touches the name of his uncle Ambrose J. Finnegan, Jr., on a wall of a Scranton war memorial, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His uncle died in World War II.
There are no images of Joe Biden’s uncle being shot dead. This photograph shows a Douglas A-20 Havoc medium bomber shot down by anti-aircraft fire during an attack on the Imperial Japanese seaplane base and port facilities at Sekar Bay on 22 July 1944 at Kokas, Dutch New Guinea, East Indies Dutch. .
Local people watch the wounded Americans. and Australian soldiers placed on a row of stretchers. Papua New Guinea, December 1942
Biden went on to tell how “Uncle Bosie,” whom he called “an amazing guy,” had ended up in the jungle populated by savage cannibals.
He said: ‘When D-Day happened the next day, my mother’s four brothers volunteered to join the army. Three of them made it, one of them couldn’t go.
‘Ambrose Finnegan, we called him Uncle Bosie, was shot dead. He was in the Army Air Corps, before the Air Force existed, he flew those single-engine planes, reconnaissance flights over New Guinea.
“He volunteered because someone couldn’t make it.”
That led to him being shot dead among the cannibals.
In a speech later Wednesday, Biden added: “My Uncle Bosie was a great athlete, I’m told, when he was a kid.”
And it became the Army Air Corps before the Air Force came along. He flew those single-engine planes as reconnaissance over war zones.
“And they shot him to death near Guinea and they never found the body because there used to be a lot of real cannibals in that part of New Guinea.”
The loss of Ambrose Finnegan is detailed in a “missing aircraft” report prepared on March 17, 1944, and preserved in the National Archives.
Marked “Secret,” the War Department report shows that he was not piloting the plane and was a passenger.
There were three “crew” and one “passenger” on board.
Finnegan was listed as a second lieutenant and was a “messenger.”
The three-person crew consisted of a pilot, a gunner and an engineer.
According to the report, the weather was “fair” when the plane crashed and there was “no” evidence to suggest whether or not those on board had survived.
Missing Aircrew Report Number 48472D LT AMBROSE J. FINNEGAN
President Joe Biden visits the War Memorial in Scranton, Pennsylvania, with Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, right, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
President Joe Biden with Pennsylvania Mayor Paige Cognetti visits the Veterans War Memorial in Scranton, Pennsylvania
President Joe Biden visits Zummo’s Cafe with Scranton, Pennsylvania Mayor Paige Cognetti
Speaking in Scranton, Biden continued: ‘In my family we had a tradition that my grandfather taught us.
‘When you visit the grave of a family member, you say three Hail Marys. That’s what he was doing (at the memorial).
‘My uncle Ambrose Finnegan. Uncle Bosie was a great guy. I never met him.
Biden said as he looked at the monument that he was thinking about his Republican presidential rival, Donald Trump.
President Joe Biden touches the name of his uncle Ambrose J. Finnegan, Jr., on a wall of a Scranton war memorial, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
US President Joe Biden visits a war memorial in Scranton, Pennsylvania, US, April 17, 2024.
“What I was thinking when I was there, when Trump refused to go up to the monument in Paris and said they were a bunch of fools and losers,” he said.
‘To me, that is a very disqualifying statement made by a president. The guys who saved civilization in the 40s are fools and losers.
Trump has strongly denied making such comments about American soldiers who died in World War II.