Bizarre

No, The President’s Uncle Was Not Eaten by Cannibals . . . Seriously

President Joe Biden has been long accused of false stories that have ranged from an invented arrest with Nelson Mandela to a zombie-like train conductor. Some are more serious like lying about influence peddling by his family or constitutional norms. However, as a military history nut, one new story stood out this week. President Biden suggested that his uncle Ambrose “Bozey” Finnegan may have been eaten by cannibals in World War II. What is striking about this story is the specificity of the key facts … and the fact that they are entirely false (other than his uncle dying near New Guinea).

During a stop in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Biden told the story of how Bozey may have been consumed by the natives of New Guinea.

“He was a hell of an athlete, they tell me, when he was a kid. He flew those single-engine planes as reconnaissance over war zones, and he got shot down in New Guinea. They never found the body because there used to be, there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea.”

The account appears in the official transcript of Biden’s remarks. He added “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.”  It is not clear when that search occurred and where the additional plane parts were found given that it crashed in the ocean. However, it suggests that he later (as senator, Vice President or President) followed up on the story with the military in locating confirming wreckage).

The alternative would be to rely on a witness. Yes, there was a survivor who gave a detailed account, including how Finnegan and the others remained in the plane as it sank.

The more glaring problem is that Bozey was not flying a plane and was not shot down. It was not a single engine plane but a Douglas A-20 Havoc with two Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior 9-cylinder radial engines. He was not the pilot but a passenger on a plane. (Indeed, he was not referenced in the official report as a pilot but a staffer at the Headquarters of the Fifth Air Force). The plane had mechanical problems and crashed near New Guinea. He did not disappear in a sea of cannibals but the actual sea when he and other passengers failed to get out of the wreckage.

“On May 14, 1944, an A-20 havoc (serial number 42-86768), with a crew of three and one passenger, departed Momote Airfield, Los Negros Island, for a courier flight to Nadzab Airfield, New Guinea. For unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea. Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft’s nose hit the water hard. Three men failed to emerge from the sinking wreck and were lost in the crash. One crew member survived and was rescued by a passing barge. An aerial search the next day found no trace of the missing aircraft or the lost crew members.”

That was not the only false claim made by the President in his remarks. It was also surprising to see the President claim that it was after D-Day that all four uncles enlisted. That was June 6, 1944. However, his uncle was shot down in May 1944, which would mean that he was shot down a month before he enlisted. It is more likely that they enlisted like millions of others after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

However, the fake story led me to look into whether there were any accounts of pilots being eaten by cannibals. Surprisingly, there are accounts of Japanese troops engaging in such cannibalism.

One of the documented stories of Japanese cannibalism involved another president. George H.W. Bush was a combat pilot in World War II and  survived being shot down over the Pacific during a raid on the island of Chichi Jima in September of 1944. He was not alone. Nine other airmen went down, but only Bush was able to evade capture because he bailed out over the sea. Nevertheless, he only survived because other pilots gave covering fire as he paddled away in a life raft.

The other eight were not so lucky. James Bradley’s book Flyboys: A Story of True Courage details the tragedy that unfolded. They were beaten and tortured and eventually beheaded.  Major Sueo Matoba then had their flesh prepared for an officers’ feast and a party in his quarters. Also Captain Shizuo Yoshii hosted a similar feast and both General Yoshio Tachibana and and Rear Admiral Kunizo Mori, the army and navy commanders of the island,  reportedly partook in the meals. The four airmen used for the meals were Marve Mershon, Floyd Hall, Jimmy Dye, and Warren Earl Vaughn.

Ironically, there are also stories of native cannibals rescuing downed pilots and, rather than eating them, helping them survive and make it back to their commands.

As is often the case, the White House simply refused to address the false claim and made it sound like reporters were denigrating the service of his uncle by asking about the cannibal story. White House spokesman Andrew Bates declared “President Biden is proud of his uncle’s service in uniform” and emphasized that Finnegan ”lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea.”

 

270 thoughts on “No, The President’s Uncle Was Not Eaten by Cannibals . . . Seriously”

  1. As professor Turley understands, the real concern is not regarding the specifics of a “misremembered” and frankly insignificant story of Biden’s family. The real concern is that President Biden “knows facts” that just aren’t so. The image that is chilling me is Biden applying his “store house of facts” to public and foreign policy. While I can understand the challenges of achieving a high “batting average” at the presidential level in regards to good public or foreign policy decisions when we have correct facts, I am quite certain that even the most competent administration (and this administration has a demonstrated track record that shows it is far from competent) will struggle make good decisions when its “understood facts” are simply wrong.

  2. Pretty much an insult to the men who served. My father spent three years in New Guinea, hand to hand combat, stabbed in his leg. He had nightmares the rest of his life. He was supposed to take a flight that crashed, and all his friends were killed. Biden is an insult to all veterans. I would like to know what sort of excuse he had for avoiding Vietnam. He never talks about that. I lost friends and family to that. I just love how these draft dodgers rose to power and replaced them with their sanctamonious false patriotism.

  3. A really trivial story, but it just amplifies how easily and shamelessly this man will lie if he thinks it makes him look good or sympathetic.

    1. Have you ever hear of a guy named Donald Trump? Trump said he was smart because his uncle went to MIT.

  4. I wonder if there are any ashamed Biden voters in this country or are there that many Soviet apparatchiks in America now?

    1. More than Soviet apparatchiks, I think that many Democrats are just plain mentally ill. They are like people who go to church versus cult members. They’re the cult members side of things. That is why they are against Free Speech, because the last thing a cult member wants is somebody who does not buy into their insanity, pointing out their insanity to them. That is one aspect of Katherine Maher of NPR that was not talked much about. She is a mentally ill and mentally fragile woman, who apparently can not tolerate anyone around her who threatens her belief system. Even to the point of running off the NPR customer base, which is unforgivable for a manager.

      You can see that demonstrated by the DNC Shills here today, who are doing their best to pretend that nothing is wrong with Biden making up stupid cannibal stories. Assuming they are not just lying for a pay check. This is why America’s problems can not be fixed in the short term, because we are not dealing with rational people on the Democrat side of things – we are dealing with delusional nuts.

      1. @Floyd

        I think so too. I used to believe we were the people that want our Constitution vs. those that think the USSR was better; now I realize we are dealing with the no-hyperbole mentally ill. It is insanity, and that means real, honest to goodness, insanity.

  5. O T – I have just completed watching the four episodes of “Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office”, a product of ITV in Britain. It is quite powerful in depicting the ruin caused to so many people by the British Postal Service, which claimed that subpostmasters (independent contractors running store-front postal stations) had been stealing money or otherwise causing losses in their operations. The data supporting the claim of losses was generated by a new computer system called Horizon, programmed by Fijitsu. Bates, one of the postmasters accused of dereliction of duty, asserted that the computer system generated the appearance of losses.
    The Post Office steadfastly claimed that Horizon could not possibly have caused the losses because it did not have access the branch computers. The occasional subpostmaster who stood up to the post office would always lose in court because the judge would accept the claim that the system was infallible.
    About 700 people were prosecuted by the Post Office for theft, and almost 300 were sent to jail. When subpostmasters negotiated the surrender of their licenses to avoid prosecution, they were forced to agree not to raise questions about the performance of Horizon.
    Bates led a public, parliamentary and, eventually, court battle against the Post Office. After 20 years, he won. It was established in court that the Horizon headquarters could access the local postal offices and that a whole team at Fijitsu corrected errors in local computers remotely at night.
    At some point, it occured to me that something of the same kind has happened here. Some people have challenged the reliability of computers used for voting. Their complaints, or even just questions, have been ignored. No thorough examination of the election computers in 2020 or other years has occured. People who raise questions are called “election deniers” if not “insurrectionists”. Donald Trump is being prosecuted by Jack Smith for questioning the performance of computers in the 2020 election. According to Smith, Trump “WAS TOLD ” that he fairly lost the election. So, it is the same mentality: “We are the government. Don’t ever question our actions. Not if you value your health.”
    I am not trying to say that our election computers have been hacked in some way, or failed in some way. But to argue that computers are beyond error is wrong. It is legitimate to inquire.

    1. edwardmahl,
      Having read some of the testimony in the Dominion trial and having some insight in contracting, I think someone tried to put a faulty system together for the money.

    1. Why?
      Biden’s mental capacity has been in question since he ran for president from his basement in 2020.
      The good professor is just pointing out how absurd it is for the Democrat party to run on Biden and not pick someone else. Anyone with a degree of common sense can see it.

      1. Of course voting for a guy with 91 criminal charges, 6 bankruptcies, 5 draft deferments, 4 federal indictments , 2 impeachments, 1 convicted company, 1 fake university shut down,1 fake charity shut down, 25 million fraud settlement, 2 million charity abuse judgement. And found libel for sexual assault. Over 30 thousand lies in 4 years. Anyone with a degree of common sense can see it.

        1. Funny how the Dems stopped fact-checking the honesty of Presidents once Biden got in office.
          Then keep throwing court cases at their opponent and squawk about how the numbers keep going up.
          While playing ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ with the members of their own team.

  7. There is no way that Turley wrote this.

    The level of detail is WAY beyond what would be found by a casual Google search.

    This is something that a full-time researcher at Fox Fanatasy put together for propaganda purposes.

    If Turley is really spending his time researching such obscure details, then I think his law school employer may have a few questions!!!!!

    1. Also, Turley always manages to crank out at least 2 pieces every day, usually in the middle of the day.

      Is this how he spends his days??

      When does he have time to teach, go to department meetings, grade papers, hold office hours for students??

      Clearly he is just posting hit pieces prepared for him by Fox.

      1. Prepared by his research assistants is more likely than Fox. Fox pays him, he doesn’t pay Fox.

        1. You may be right, Fox pays him. I never thought of that.

          That would explain a lot. Fox may be paying him handsomely to post their propaganda under his name.

          I doubt that he has been able to monetize this blog to any great degree, so why does he spend so much time on it, unless Fox is paying him. This piece on cannibalism would have taken a lot of research to get the extraordinary detail he describes. Maybe he pays research assistants to put these pieces together. He would have to have some money coming in to pay them. Maybe the research assistants are actually paid by Fox. If not, he may be using his assistants at GW Law School, in which case the school may have questions.

          Also, have you noticed that he often posts stories about his vacations and hiking trips. He often spends a week or two out West on these trips.

          However, you would also notice that he doesn’t miss a beat with his propaganda pieces while on vacation.

          He publishes his 2 pieces every day without fail, then all of a sudden we get a piece about his 2 week hiking trip. There are only 2 possibilities. He either spends his time on vacation writing the propaganda, or someone else is writing this stuff.

          Which do you think is more likely?

          1. Turley jumped the shark long ago, as long as he doesn’t lose his MAGA base, all is well and the checks keep coming in.

  8. Breaking news that should be palatable for everyone

    For those who need a list of Democrats who are anti-semites and pro-Hamas Iranian militants, C-Span reports the following names of terrorist Congresscritters. For those complaining Professor Turley is reporting non-news regarding Joe Biden’s appetite for lying, Val right below C-Span has newsworthy info for you.

    😉

    ……

    Craig Caplan (C-Span Producer)
    @CraigCaplan

    14 House members voted No against condemning Iran’s airstrikes on Israel (Massie-R & 13 Democrats):
    Bowman
    Bush
    Casar
    Jackson (IL)
    Jayapal
    Johnson (GA)
    Lee (CA)
    Lee (PA)
    Massie
    Ocasio-Cortez
    Omar
    Pressley
    Ramirez
    Tlaib
    https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2024/roll141.xml…

    VAL 🔥
    @VAL988631862586
    ＮＵＤＥＳ ＩＮ ＰＲＯＦＩＬＥ
    11:32 AM · Apr 18, 2024

    https://twitter.com/CraigCaplan/status/1780979418011226379

    1. Not nice, Stooge! Where are the pedophile kiddie pics? Do you expect me to get them from Joseph Biden?

      bug

  9. Cannibal Wife- Honey, why did you think I wanted a subscription to People Magazine? Husband- Oh I’m sorry dear I thought it was a cookbook.

    :

  10. This could never have happen because everyone knows that New Guinea natives do not like white meat.

  11. Jonathan: Speaking of “Cannibals” did you see DJT’s latest scam? He now wants to cannibalize GOP down-ballot campaigns. DJT is now demanding that all GOP campaigns give him at least 5% of money raised when his name or image is used in campaign ads.

    Apparently, DJT’s other scams–the “golden” sneakers or the “God Bless the USA” Bibles– have not worked to bring in enough money to pay his legal bills. Combined with the tanking of his “Truth Social” media stock and the fact that the Biden campaign is raising a lot more money DJT is one desperate guy. When you are willing to eat your own that shows a real level of desperation not seen in a long time!

    2. Look who temporarily sobered up…was your mom’s basement closed for maintenance?

  12. My Great Grand Pappy ware ta best Bar Hunter, he onest killed a Bar jest by stairing him in the iies, I swar it. My Daddy be told once fished a Rainbow tat ware 36 inch and war heavy 50 pounds, course Daddy had to fight off Duke the meanest in the hole town frem taken that fish. My cousin Leroy fought off a pit full of rattlers to save his beloved dog Jasper, never get bit either, kill’d all those dern snakes, brave he were.

    My question about President Biden’s Uncle and the story, what in the Hill of Beans does it have to do with anything he was speaking about, was he a steel worker before the war? His cognitive decline becomes obvious when the context is lost to some fantasy in the recesses of his limit brain. GOD HELP US ALL!

    1. George W,
      At first I thought you must of been using a smartphone to make that comment.
      Then, He’s drunk!
      By the time I got to second “Bar” I realized it was satire.
      Well done!

      1. I confess Upstate that I ain’t been drinking but have been lost in thought how the United States of America and half its citizens could have ever elected the Fool now sitting in the White House as our President. Are those that voted for him hindered by a nose ring that block reality or reasoned thought? Again, God help us All, and that sanity will return to the Port side to keep an even keel.

    2. God will not interfere in the 2024 election… just make sure Democrats don’t!

      1. Terry that depends,

        When will Israel IDF strike back at Iran? Will it be before or after Passover?

        Even Iran Supreme Leader knows it will usher in the return Jesus Christ, king of kings & lord of lords.

  14. Wouldn’t saying Biden *IS* a cannibal
    be just as honest as when he says
    his uncle was eaten by them?

  15. JT has persistently talked about how great Bill Bar was. Even used him to excuse trumps disgusting display of a bible after using the NG to chase protesters away. Well, turns out Bill Bar may be as big a lier as his boss trump. Yet JT still believes the BS coming from anyone associated with trump.
    https://www.alternet.org/bill-barr-trial/

    2. How did this get about Trump. They were talking about Biden! It’s funny how people like you, draw Trump like a gun when cornered on a Biden story! Trying a little misdirection, are you?

  17. The Irish retard is trying to say he and his family sacrificed for America and Trump not so much, and that the Irish are what made America great not people like Trump, who worked hard all there lives, saved their money and put it to good use. Why are the Irish still here? The potato famine is over? Why don’t they return from whence they came? They are an affliction. Haven’t we suffered enough? And you can call me a racist till you are blue in the face, there is no way in hell the Irish are just like us.

  18. Stick to the Constitution, john, your fact need checking too. The R-985 wouldn’t even pull an A-20 around the pattern

    1. Tone down your snark. The original 1936 A-20 design called for the R-985. It engines were subsequently upgraded to the Pratt-Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasps. See the following for the gory details that you seem to have overlooked:
      aviation-history dot com/douglas/a20.html

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