CPL Merle Lloyd "Mose" Pickup
1917 - 1944
VETERAN
Father: Clarence "Ray" Pickup
Mother: Celestia Vilate "Laty" Batty Pickup
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Merle L. "Mose" Pickup was born in 1917. He resided in Utah County, Utah prior to the war. Merle served as a Corporal, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Merle enlisted in the Army on September 8, 1942, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a driver, and single, without dependents. He was a passenger on B-24J #42-100184, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force.
B-24J #42-100184 took off, with a crew of seven and three passengers, from Yangkai, China on a ferrying mission to Chabua, India. The last heard from them was a radio transmission noting they were 30 minutes east of Chabua. They crashed, for an unknown reason near Cheppe, Arunachal Pradesh, India, during the war. He was declared "Missing in Action" on May 25, 1944, and is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph [remains finally buried 17 Dec 2022] located in Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah County, Utah.
CPL Pickup was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.
—Source: abmc.gov
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Merle's remains were finally recovered on 7 December 2010 by Clayton Kuhles, of MIA Recoveries, Inc. See Crashed Aircraft Site Report (posted under photos tab on this memorial). His remains were identified 20 July 2022 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See press release below:
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PRESS RELEASE | Aug. 2, 2022
Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
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PRESS RELEASE | Oct. 28, 2022
Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, of Provo, Utah, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS), the military unit responsible for investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater, attempted to reach the reported crash site in March and November 1947, but were unsuccessful. In December that year, the AGRS determined reaching the site was too dangerous and the remains of the crew, including Pickup, be declared non-recoverable.
In 2008 and 2010, a third-party wreck hunter located and visited the crash site and reported seeing aircraft wreckage, military equipment, and possible human remains. In March 2014, the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, confirmed wreckage photographs taken at the site in 2010 were consistent with a B-24. In August 2019, Abor Country, an Indian travel and expedition company, successfully reached the site, documented and recovered evidence, and recovered possible human remains, which they turned over to DPAA partner Southeastern Archaeological Research (SEARCH), who was performing a DPAA recovery mission in India at the time. The items were then turned over to the Indian government. The COVID pandemic caused a delay in the evidence and possible remains being repatriated to the U.S., which finally was able to happen in March 2022.
To identify Pickup's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Pickup's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Pickup will be buried on Dec. 17, 2022, in Provo, Utah
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On Saturday, December 17, 2022, seventy-eight years, six months, and twenty-two days after his life ended when a B-24 Liberator crashed in the Himalayas, Merle Pickup will be laid to rest in the Provo City Cemetery. The ground under his simple marker has remained fallow until the box with his remains is placed on top of the vault where his father was laid to rest in 1952.
Merle Lloyd Pickup, known as "Mose" to his family and friends, was born on May 11, 1917, to Clarence Ray and Celestia Vilate "Laty" Batty Pickup on a farm in Glines Ward southeast of Vernal, Utah. Mose was the youngest of six children. The four oldest: Grace, Helen, Georgia Ray "Dard", and Alberta "Berta", all lived to raise families. He and his brother Clarence "Touts" were the youngest. From the time he was two, Mose had pneumonia seven consecutive winters. He eventually outgrew his susceptibility to illnesses and grew up strong and tall and full of life. However, the fall after he turned 18, he got pneumonia one more time and nearly died. He graduated from Uintah Academy in 1937.
Soon after graduating, his father and mother, who were struggling to make ends meet during the Great Depression, decided they would leave their farm behind and join their four daughters who had married and moved to Provo. Both Mose and Touts still lived at home. Before leaving, they helped Ray go into the Ashley National Forest and harvest timber that they had milled into lumber for a home in Provo. They left some of their timber with the mill as payment for their services. Ray had once made a living hauling freight to Price through Nine-Mile Canyon. He used this knowledge, his team, and his sons to haul the lumber to Provo.
With all their efforts focused on staying afloat, the winds of war that were blowing across Europe had not yet gained their attention. They were nearly five years building the home that is still standing at 760 North 700 East. As they neared completion, the war in far-off Europe eventually demanded not only their attention but that both sons report for duty with the United States Army. First Touts in March of 1940 and then Mose in September of 1942.
Touts trained in California and England before serving in North Africa and Italy. He returned to Fort Knox, Kentucky as a training sergeant before returning home to Provo after four years, four months and four days. Touts married and raised his family in Provo. He was the last living member of that generation of Pickup's passing on in April 2006. Mose served in the 308th Bombardment group which was assigned to fly supplies over "the Hump" from India into China. Japan had a million soldiers in China. By supplying the Chinese military, the United States hoped to keep those soldiers from joining those already fighting the US forces in the Pacific. On May 25, 1944, less than two weeks before US forces marched into Rome and landed at Normandy, Mose joined a flight from his base in China that was destined for the US base in India. Within 30 minutes of landing, the plane lost radio contact and never arrived. Ray and Laty received the news by telegram on June 3.
All that might have been done: an obituary, a funeral, a flag draped coffin, dedication of a grave, a farewell salute of gunfire, or taps was denied the Pickup family by the words "missing in action." All that, will now be afforded the Pickup's as overdue closure. On August 14, 1945, around Provo and across America, motorists honked their car horns and housewives beat pans with wooden spoons at the news that Japan had surrendered and the war was over. But for the families and mothers whose sons would not come home, the war of emotion accompanying their loss would defy armistice. For Laty, the news came as a cold wind over the ember of hope that continued to smolder in her heart. For Ray and Laty Pickup, an ill-advised rumor or a well-intended encouraging word would fan that ember of hope into a fiery war of emotion that would eventually subside but never extinguish. The peace many celebrated on VJ day elluded Laty until 1968 when she passed from mortality to a joyful reunion with Mose on the other side.
Mose's life was cut short before he could marry. Of his 16 nieces and nephews that constitute the next generation, only seven are still living. Of those, only three were alive when news came that Mose was missing. All the others have now joined him. There are now those down to the seventh generation from Ray and Laty Pickup who will have the rare opportunity through these services to become better acquainted with Mose and the sacrifice that he and others of what often is termed "the Greatest Generation" made in their behalf.
A graveside service with full military honors will be held at the Provo City Cemetery on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
The family wishes to thank the United States Army who persisted so long with the notion that the young men they sent to war were indeed someone's beloved son that deserved to be brought home no matter how many years had passed. A special thanks to Clayton Kuhles and those who contributed to his expeditions to locate the wreckage and Mose's remains.
The tribulation was foretold that we would encounter in this world. Now that Mose's grave will lie empty no more, he can rest in earthly peace looking forward to a day when again, eternally, through an empty tomb in the meridian of time, Mose and all who loved him will find eternal peace through Him who overcame this turbulent world.
— Berg Mortuary | December 2022
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A CENOTAPH in Merle's honor exists at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, plot: Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces - Recovered. It is located in Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. See the Find a Grave memorial of the CENOTAPH HERE.
1917 - 1944
VETERAN
Father: Clarence "Ray" Pickup
Mother: Celestia Vilate "Laty" Batty Pickup
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Merle L. "Mose" Pickup was born in 1917. He resided in Utah County, Utah prior to the war. Merle served as a Corporal, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Merle enlisted in the Army on September 8, 1942, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a driver, and single, without dependents. He was a passenger on B-24J #42-100184, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force.
B-24J #42-100184 took off, with a crew of seven and three passengers, from Yangkai, China on a ferrying mission to Chabua, India. The last heard from them was a radio transmission noting they were 30 minutes east of Chabua. They crashed, for an unknown reason near Cheppe, Arunachal Pradesh, India, during the war. He was declared "Missing in Action" on May 25, 1944, and is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph [remains finally buried 17 Dec 2022] located in Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah County, Utah.
CPL Pickup was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.
—Source: abmc.gov
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Merle's remains were finally recovered on 7 December 2010 by Clayton Kuhles, of MIA Recoveries, Inc. See Crashed Aircraft Site Report (posted under photos tab on this memorial). His remains were identified 20 July 2022 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See press release below:
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
PRESS RELEASE | Aug. 2, 2022
Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
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PRESS RELEASE | Oct. 28, 2022
Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, of Provo, Utah, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS), the military unit responsible for investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater, attempted to reach the reported crash site in March and November 1947, but were unsuccessful. In December that year, the AGRS determined reaching the site was too dangerous and the remains of the crew, including Pickup, be declared non-recoverable.
In 2008 and 2010, a third-party wreck hunter located and visited the crash site and reported seeing aircraft wreckage, military equipment, and possible human remains. In March 2014, the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, confirmed wreckage photographs taken at the site in 2010 were consistent with a B-24. In August 2019, Abor Country, an Indian travel and expedition company, successfully reached the site, documented and recovered evidence, and recovered possible human remains, which they turned over to DPAA partner Southeastern Archaeological Research (SEARCH), who was performing a DPAA recovery mission in India at the time. The items were then turned over to the Indian government. The COVID pandemic caused a delay in the evidence and possible remains being repatriated to the U.S., which finally was able to happen in March 2022.
To identify Pickup's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Pickup's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Pickup will be buried on Dec. 17, 2022, in Provo, Utah
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
On Saturday, December 17, 2022, seventy-eight years, six months, and twenty-two days after his life ended when a B-24 Liberator crashed in the Himalayas, Merle Pickup will be laid to rest in the Provo City Cemetery. The ground under his simple marker has remained fallow until the box with his remains is placed on top of the vault where his father was laid to rest in 1952.
Merle Lloyd Pickup, known as "Mose" to his family and friends, was born on May 11, 1917, to Clarence Ray and Celestia Vilate "Laty" Batty Pickup on a farm in Glines Ward southeast of Vernal, Utah. Mose was the youngest of six children. The four oldest: Grace, Helen, Georgia Ray "Dard", and Alberta "Berta", all lived to raise families. He and his brother Clarence "Touts" were the youngest. From the time he was two, Mose had pneumonia seven consecutive winters. He eventually outgrew his susceptibility to illnesses and grew up strong and tall and full of life. However, the fall after he turned 18, he got pneumonia one more time and nearly died. He graduated from Uintah Academy in 1937.
Soon after graduating, his father and mother, who were struggling to make ends meet during the Great Depression, decided they would leave their farm behind and join their four daughters who had married and moved to Provo. Both Mose and Touts still lived at home. Before leaving, they helped Ray go into the Ashley National Forest and harvest timber that they had milled into lumber for a home in Provo. They left some of their timber with the mill as payment for their services. Ray had once made a living hauling freight to Price through Nine-Mile Canyon. He used this knowledge, his team, and his sons to haul the lumber to Provo.
With all their efforts focused on staying afloat, the winds of war that were blowing across Europe had not yet gained their attention. They were nearly five years building the home that is still standing at 760 North 700 East. As they neared completion, the war in far-off Europe eventually demanded not only their attention but that both sons report for duty with the United States Army. First Touts in March of 1940 and then Mose in September of 1942.
Touts trained in California and England before serving in North Africa and Italy. He returned to Fort Knox, Kentucky as a training sergeant before returning home to Provo after four years, four months and four days. Touts married and raised his family in Provo. He was the last living member of that generation of Pickup's passing on in April 2006. Mose served in the 308th Bombardment group which was assigned to fly supplies over "the Hump" from India into China. Japan had a million soldiers in China. By supplying the Chinese military, the United States hoped to keep those soldiers from joining those already fighting the US forces in the Pacific. On May 25, 1944, less than two weeks before US forces marched into Rome and landed at Normandy, Mose joined a flight from his base in China that was destined for the US base in India. Within 30 minutes of landing, the plane lost radio contact and never arrived. Ray and Laty received the news by telegram on June 3.
All that might have been done: an obituary, a funeral, a flag draped coffin, dedication of a grave, a farewell salute of gunfire, or taps was denied the Pickup family by the words "missing in action." All that, will now be afforded the Pickup's as overdue closure. On August 14, 1945, around Provo and across America, motorists honked their car horns and housewives beat pans with wooden spoons at the news that Japan had surrendered and the war was over. But for the families and mothers whose sons would not come home, the war of emotion accompanying their loss would defy armistice. For Laty, the news came as a cold wind over the ember of hope that continued to smolder in her heart. For Ray and Laty Pickup, an ill-advised rumor or a well-intended encouraging word would fan that ember of hope into a fiery war of emotion that would eventually subside but never extinguish. The peace many celebrated on VJ day elluded Laty until 1968 when she passed from mortality to a joyful reunion with Mose on the other side.
Mose's life was cut short before he could marry. Of his 16 nieces and nephews that constitute the next generation, only seven are still living. Of those, only three were alive when news came that Mose was missing. All the others have now joined him. There are now those down to the seventh generation from Ray and Laty Pickup who will have the rare opportunity through these services to become better acquainted with Mose and the sacrifice that he and others of what often is termed "the Greatest Generation" made in their behalf.
A graveside service with full military honors will be held at the Provo City Cemetery on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
The family wishes to thank the United States Army who persisted so long with the notion that the young men they sent to war were indeed someone's beloved son that deserved to be brought home no matter how many years had passed. A special thanks to Clayton Kuhles and those who contributed to his expeditions to locate the wreckage and Mose's remains.
The tribulation was foretold that we would encounter in this world. Now that Mose's grave will lie empty no more, he can rest in earthly peace looking forward to a day when again, eternally, through an empty tomb in the meridian of time, Mose and all who loved him will find eternal peace through Him who overcame this turbulent world.
— Berg Mortuary | December 2022
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
A CENOTAPH in Merle's honor exists at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, plot: Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces - Recovered. It is located in Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. See the Find a Grave memorial of the CENOTAPH HERE.
CPL Merle Lloyd "Mose" Pickup
1917 - 1944
VETERAN
Father: Clarence "Ray" Pickup
Mother: Celestia Vilate "Laty" Batty Pickup
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Merle L. "Mose" Pickup was born in 1917. He resided in Utah County, Utah prior to the war. Merle served as a Corporal, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Merle enlisted in the Army on September 8, 1942, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a driver, and single, without dependents. He was a passenger on B-24J #42-100184, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force.
B-24J #42-100184 took off, with a crew of seven and three passengers, from Yangkai, China on a ferrying mission to Chabua, India. The last heard from them was a radio transmission noting they were 30 minutes east of Chabua. They crashed, for an unknown reason near Cheppe, Arunachal Pradesh, India, during the war. He was declared "Missing in Action" on May 25, 1944, and is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph [remains finally buried 17 Dec 2022] located in Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah County, Utah.
CPL Pickup was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.
—Source: abmc.gov
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Merle's remains were finally recovered on 7 December 2010 by Clayton Kuhles, of MIA Recoveries, Inc. See Crashed Aircraft Site Report (posted under photos tab on this memorial). His remains were identified 20 July 2022 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See press release below:
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
PRESS RELEASE | Aug. 2, 2022
Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
PRESS RELEASE | Oct. 28, 2022
Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, of Provo, Utah, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS), the military unit responsible for investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater, attempted to reach the reported crash site in March and November 1947, but were unsuccessful. In December that year, the AGRS determined reaching the site was too dangerous and the remains of the crew, including Pickup, be declared non-recoverable.
In 2008 and 2010, a third-party wreck hunter located and visited the crash site and reported seeing aircraft wreckage, military equipment, and possible human remains. In March 2014, the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, confirmed wreckage photographs taken at the site in 2010 were consistent with a B-24. In August 2019, Abor Country, an Indian travel and expedition company, successfully reached the site, documented and recovered evidence, and recovered possible human remains, which they turned over to DPAA partner Southeastern Archaeological Research (SEARCH), who was performing a DPAA recovery mission in India at the time. The items were then turned over to the Indian government. The COVID pandemic caused a delay in the evidence and possible remains being repatriated to the U.S., which finally was able to happen in March 2022.
To identify Pickup's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Pickup's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Pickup will be buried on Dec. 17, 2022, in Provo, Utah
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
On Saturday, December 17, 2022, seventy-eight years, six months, and twenty-two days after his life ended when a B-24 Liberator crashed in the Himalayas, Merle Pickup will be laid to rest in the Provo City Cemetery. The ground under his simple marker has remained fallow until the box with his remains is placed on top of the vault where his father was laid to rest in 1952.
Merle Lloyd Pickup, known as "Mose" to his family and friends, was born on May 11, 1917, to Clarence Ray and Celestia Vilate "Laty" Batty Pickup on a farm in Glines Ward southeast of Vernal, Utah. Mose was the youngest of six children. The four oldest: Grace, Helen, Georgia Ray "Dard", and Alberta "Berta", all lived to raise families. He and his brother Clarence "Touts" were the youngest. From the time he was two, Mose had pneumonia seven consecutive winters. He eventually outgrew his susceptibility to illnesses and grew up strong and tall and full of life. However, the fall after he turned 18, he got pneumonia one more time and nearly died. He graduated from Uintah Academy in 1937.
Soon after graduating, his father and mother, who were struggling to make ends meet during the Great Depression, decided they would leave their farm behind and join their four daughters who had married and moved to Provo. Both Mose and Touts still lived at home. Before leaving, they helped Ray go into the Ashley National Forest and harvest timber that they had milled into lumber for a home in Provo. They left some of their timber with the mill as payment for their services. Ray had once made a living hauling freight to Price through Nine-Mile Canyon. He used this knowledge, his team, and his sons to haul the lumber to Provo.
With all their efforts focused on staying afloat, the winds of war that were blowing across Europe had not yet gained their attention. They were nearly five years building the home that is still standing at 760 North 700 East. As they neared completion, the war in far-off Europe eventually demanded not only their attention but that both sons report for duty with the United States Army. First Touts in March of 1940 and then Mose in September of 1942.
Touts trained in California and England before serving in North Africa and Italy. He returned to Fort Knox, Kentucky as a training sergeant before returning home to Provo after four years, four months and four days. Touts married and raised his family in Provo. He was the last living member of that generation of Pickup's passing on in April 2006. Mose served in the 308th Bombardment group which was assigned to fly supplies over "the Hump" from India into China. Japan had a million soldiers in China. By supplying the Chinese military, the United States hoped to keep those soldiers from joining those already fighting the US forces in the Pacific. On May 25, 1944, less than two weeks before US forces marched into Rome and landed at Normandy, Mose joined a flight from his base in China that was destined for the US base in India. Within 30 minutes of landing, the plane lost radio contact and never arrived. Ray and Laty received the news by telegram on June 3.
All that might have been done: an obituary, a funeral, a flag draped coffin, dedication of a grave, a farewell salute of gunfire, or taps was denied the Pickup family by the words "missing in action." All that, will now be afforded the Pickup's as overdue closure. On August 14, 1945, around Provo and across America, motorists honked their car horns and housewives beat pans with wooden spoons at the news that Japan had surrendered and the war was over. But for the families and mothers whose sons would not come home, the war of emotion accompanying their loss would defy armistice. For Laty, the news came as a cold wind over the ember of hope that continued to smolder in her heart. For Ray and Laty Pickup, an ill-advised rumor or a well-intended encouraging word would fan that ember of hope into a fiery war of emotion that would eventually subside but never extinguish. The peace many celebrated on VJ day elluded Laty until 1968 when she passed from mortality to a joyful reunion with Mose on the other side.
Mose's life was cut short before he could marry. Of his 16 nieces and nephews that constitute the next generation, only seven are still living. Of those, only three were alive when news came that Mose was missing. All the others have now joined him. There are now those down to the seventh generation from Ray and Laty Pickup who will have the rare opportunity through these services to become better acquainted with Mose and the sacrifice that he and others of what often is termed "the Greatest Generation" made in their behalf.
A graveside service with full military honors will be held at the Provo City Cemetery on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
The family wishes to thank the United States Army who persisted so long with the notion that the young men they sent to war were indeed someone's beloved son that deserved to be brought home no matter how many years had passed. A special thanks to Clayton Kuhles and those who contributed to his expeditions to locate the wreckage and Mose's remains.
The tribulation was foretold that we would encounter in this world. Now that Mose's grave will lie empty no more, he can rest in earthly peace looking forward to a day when again, eternally, through an empty tomb in the meridian of time, Mose and all who loved him will find eternal peace through Him who overcame this turbulent world.
— Berg Mortuary | December 2022
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
A CENOTAPH in Merle's honor exists at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, plot: Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces - Recovered. It is located in Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. See the Find a Grave memorial of the CENOTAPH HERE.
1917 - 1944
VETERAN
Father: Clarence "Ray" Pickup
Mother: Celestia Vilate "Laty" Batty Pickup
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Merle L. "Mose" Pickup was born in 1917. He resided in Utah County, Utah prior to the war. Merle served as a Corporal, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Merle enlisted in the Army on September 8, 1942, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a driver, and single, without dependents. He was a passenger on B-24J #42-100184, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force.
B-24J #42-100184 took off, with a crew of seven and three passengers, from Yangkai, China on a ferrying mission to Chabua, India. The last heard from them was a radio transmission noting they were 30 minutes east of Chabua. They crashed, for an unknown reason near Cheppe, Arunachal Pradesh, India, during the war. He was declared "Missing in Action" on May 25, 1944, and is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph [remains finally buried 17 Dec 2022] located in Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah County, Utah.
CPL Pickup was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.
—Source: abmc.gov
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Merle's remains were finally recovered on 7 December 2010 by Clayton Kuhles, of MIA Recoveries, Inc. See Crashed Aircraft Site Report (posted under photos tab on this memorial). His remains were identified 20 July 2022 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See press release below:
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PRESS RELEASE | Aug. 2, 2022
Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
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PRESS RELEASE | Oct. 28, 2022
Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, of Provo, Utah, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS), the military unit responsible for investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater, attempted to reach the reported crash site in March and November 1947, but were unsuccessful. In December that year, the AGRS determined reaching the site was too dangerous and the remains of the crew, including Pickup, be declared non-recoverable.
In 2008 and 2010, a third-party wreck hunter located and visited the crash site and reported seeing aircraft wreckage, military equipment, and possible human remains. In March 2014, the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, confirmed wreckage photographs taken at the site in 2010 were consistent with a B-24. In August 2019, Abor Country, an Indian travel and expedition company, successfully reached the site, documented and recovered evidence, and recovered possible human remains, which they turned over to DPAA partner Southeastern Archaeological Research (SEARCH), who was performing a DPAA recovery mission in India at the time. The items were then turned over to the Indian government. The COVID pandemic caused a delay in the evidence and possible remains being repatriated to the U.S., which finally was able to happen in March 2022.
To identify Pickup's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Pickup's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Pickup will be buried on Dec. 17, 2022, in Provo, Utah
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On Saturday, December 17, 2022, seventy-eight years, six months, and twenty-two days after his life ended when a B-24 Liberator crashed in the Himalayas, Merle Pickup will be laid to rest in the Provo City Cemetery. The ground under his simple marker has remained fallow until the box with his remains is placed on top of the vault where his father was laid to rest in 1952.
Merle Lloyd Pickup, known as "Mose" to his family and friends, was born on May 11, 1917, to Clarence Ray and Celestia Vilate "Laty" Batty Pickup on a farm in Glines Ward southeast of Vernal, Utah. Mose was the youngest of six children. The four oldest: Grace, Helen, Georgia Ray "Dard", and Alberta "Berta", all lived to raise families. He and his brother Clarence "Touts" were the youngest. From the time he was two, Mose had pneumonia seven consecutive winters. He eventually outgrew his susceptibility to illnesses and grew up strong and tall and full of life. However, the fall after he turned 18, he got pneumonia one more time and nearly died. He graduated from Uintah Academy in 1937.
Soon after graduating, his father and mother, who were struggling to make ends meet during the Great Depression, decided they would leave their farm behind and join their four daughters who had married and moved to Provo. Both Mose and Touts still lived at home. Before leaving, they helped Ray go into the Ashley National Forest and harvest timber that they had milled into lumber for a home in Provo. They left some of their timber with the mill as payment for their services. Ray had once made a living hauling freight to Price through Nine-Mile Canyon. He used this knowledge, his team, and his sons to haul the lumber to Provo.
With all their efforts focused on staying afloat, the winds of war that were blowing across Europe had not yet gained their attention. They were nearly five years building the home that is still standing at 760 North 700 East. As they neared completion, the war in far-off Europe eventually demanded not only their attention but that both sons report for duty with the United States Army. First Touts in March of 1940 and then Mose in September of 1942.
Touts trained in California and England before serving in North Africa and Italy. He returned to Fort Knox, Kentucky as a training sergeant before returning home to Provo after four years, four months and four days. Touts married and raised his family in Provo. He was the last living member of that generation of Pickup's passing on in April 2006. Mose served in the 308th Bombardment group which was assigned to fly supplies over "the Hump" from India into China. Japan had a million soldiers in China. By supplying the Chinese military, the United States hoped to keep those soldiers from joining those already fighting the US forces in the Pacific. On May 25, 1944, less than two weeks before US forces marched into Rome and landed at Normandy, Mose joined a flight from his base in China that was destined for the US base in India. Within 30 minutes of landing, the plane lost radio contact and never arrived. Ray and Laty received the news by telegram on June 3.
All that might have been done: an obituary, a funeral, a flag draped coffin, dedication of a grave, a farewell salute of gunfire, or taps was denied the Pickup family by the words "missing in action." All that, will now be afforded the Pickup's as overdue closure. On August 14, 1945, around Provo and across America, motorists honked their car horns and housewives beat pans with wooden spoons at the news that Japan had surrendered and the war was over. But for the families and mothers whose sons would not come home, the war of emotion accompanying their loss would defy armistice. For Laty, the news came as a cold wind over the ember of hope that continued to smolder in her heart. For Ray and Laty Pickup, an ill-advised rumor or a well-intended encouraging word would fan that ember of hope into a fiery war of emotion that would eventually subside but never extinguish. The peace many celebrated on VJ day elluded Laty until 1968 when she passed from mortality to a joyful reunion with Mose on the other side.
Mose's life was cut short before he could marry. Of his 16 nieces and nephews that constitute the next generation, only seven are still living. Of those, only three were alive when news came that Mose was missing. All the others have now joined him. There are now those down to the seventh generation from Ray and Laty Pickup who will have the rare opportunity through these services to become better acquainted with Mose and the sacrifice that he and others of what often is termed "the Greatest Generation" made in their behalf.
A graveside service with full military honors will be held at the Provo City Cemetery on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
The family wishes to thank the United States Army who persisted so long with the notion that the young men they sent to war were indeed someone's beloved son that deserved to be brought home no matter how many years had passed. A special thanks to Clayton Kuhles and those who contributed to his expeditions to locate the wreckage and Mose's remains.
The tribulation was foretold that we would encounter in this world. Now that Mose's grave will lie empty no more, he can rest in earthly peace looking forward to a day when again, eternally, through an empty tomb in the meridian of time, Mose and all who loved him will find eternal peace through Him who overcame this turbulent world.
— Berg Mortuary | December 2022
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A CENOTAPH in Merle's honor exists at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, plot: Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces - Recovered. It is located in Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. See the Find a Grave memorial of the CENOTAPH HERE.
Inscription
OUR SON
"MOSE"
LOST IN CHINA — WORLD WAR II
Gravesite Details
Interment 17 Dec 2022
