On 24 March 1944, USAAF’s Boeing B-25 Mitchell bomber aircraft (of the American 1st Air Commando Group) was on the return flight--from Imphal to Lalaghat--following an assessment of the situations in three Chindit-held bases in Burma which were under the command of British Major General Orde Charles Wingate. The Mitchell B-25 aircraft was being crewed by five American Air Corps personnel---including Staff Sergeant V. A. McIninch---and there were four British passengers on board, including Major General Wingate, his Aide-de-camp, and two British war correspondents. The aircraft crashed into the Burmese jungle-covered hills (which is in the present-day state of Manipur in northeast India). All nine people on board the B-25 Mitchell perished in the accident.

The casualties of this aircraft crash were-
UK Captain George Henry BORROW, MC,
UK War Correspondent Stuart Wallis EMENY,
TSgt James Walton HICKEY,
1st Lt Brian Floyd HODGES,
SSgt Vernon A. McININCH,
TSgt Frank SADOSKI,
2nd Lt Stephen Albert WANDERER,
UK War Correspondent Stanley WILLS and
UK Major General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO and 2 Bars, Twice MiD.

The first memorial service was held at the crash site in March 1944, with full military honours, with Maj-Gen W. D. A. Lentaigne, Lord Louis Mountbatten, another officer and several British troops in attendance. A wooden cross was put in place; the cross held a round inscribed metal plaque, at its centre, which read: ‘Maj-Gen O. C. Wingate, DSO / Capt. G. H. Borrow, MC / Mr. Stewart Emeny (War Correspondent) / Mr. Stanley Wills (War Correspondent) / 1st Lieut. Brian E. F. Hodges, USAAF / 2nd Lieut. Stephan A. Wanderer, USAAF/ Tech Sgt Frank Sadoski, USAAF / S Sgt James W. Hickey, USAAF / S Sgt Vernon A. McInnich, USAAF’ The plaque was decorated with a simple line image of a chinthe (‘chindit’) and a pagoda spire.
However, in 1947 the remains of these crash victims were disinterred from their original burial place, and re-interred in the British War Cemetery at Imphal in India. As the severe impact of the crash prevented establishing which remains were which person, the policy of the time were for the remains to be buried in the nation from which the majority of the victims originated. In this case, the country was the USA.

In November 1950 the intermingled remains were disinterred from the British War Cemetery at Imphal and buried, with full military honours, at Arlington Cemetery in the USA.

On 24 March 1944, USAAF’s Boeing B-25 Mitchell bomber aircraft (of the American 1st Air Commando Group) was on the return flight--from Imphal to Lalaghat--following an assessment of the situations in three Chindit-held bases in Burma which were under the command of British Major General Orde Charles Wingate. The Mitchell B-25 aircraft was being crewed by five American Air Corps personnel---including Staff Sergeant V. A. McIninch---and there were four British passengers on board, including Major General Wingate, his Aide-de-camp, and two British war correspondents. The aircraft crashed into the Burmese jungle-covered hills (which is in the present-day state of Manipur in northeast India). All nine people on board the B-25 Mitchell perished in the accident.

The casualties of this aircraft crash were-
UK Captain George Henry BORROW, MC,
UK War Correspondent Stuart Wallis EMENY,
TSgt James Walton HICKEY,
1st Lt Brian Floyd HODGES,
SSgt Vernon A. McININCH,
TSgt Frank SADOSKI,
2nd Lt Stephen Albert WANDERER,
UK War Correspondent Stanley WILLS and
UK Major General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO and 2 Bars, Twice MiD.

The first memorial service was held at the crash site in March 1944, with full military honours, with Maj-Gen W. D. A. Lentaigne, Lord Louis Mountbatten, another officer and several British troops in attendance. A wooden cross was put in place; the cross held a round inscribed metal plaque, at its centre, which read: ‘Maj-Gen O. C. Wingate, DSO / Capt. G. H. Borrow, MC / Mr. Stewart Emeny (War Correspondent) / Mr. Stanley Wills (War Correspondent) / 1st Lieut. Brian E. F. Hodges, USAAF / 2nd Lieut. Stephan A. Wanderer, USAAF/ Tech Sgt Frank Sadoski, USAAF / S Sgt James W. Hickey, USAAF / S Sgt Vernon A. McInnich, USAAF’ The plaque was decorated with a simple line image of a chinthe (‘chindit’) and a pagoda spire.
However, in 1947 the remains of these crash victims were disinterred from their original burial place, and re-interred in the British War Cemetery at Imphal in India. As the severe impact of the crash prevented establishing which remains were which person, the policy of the time were for the remains to be buried in the nation from which the majority of the victims originated. In this case, the country was the USA.

In November 1950 the intermingled remains were disinterred from the British War Cemetery at Imphal and buried, with full military honours, at Arlington Cemetery in the USA.