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. If joe briben cant embellish half truths with lies and or complete fabrications with even more grandiose lies…then he would simply vanish. There is nothing moral ,stable about this walking talking unviable mess.

    1. Read what Turley wrote: Biden says he was TOLD this story. It’s true that his uncle died in a plane crash and that his body was not recovered, and that there were cannibals in the area. Turley calls Biden’s claims about the type of plane and whether it was shot down or crashed due to engine failure a”false statement”, and then proceeds to attack Biden about being a liar.

      Seriously, how does Turley live with himself? Trump is the worst, consistent, pathological liar in political history–something Turley grossly overlooks in attacking Biden for inaccuracies that really aren’t important, when Biden made it clear this is what he was TOLD. AND, at least people named BIDEN did serve their country–something Trump can’t claim.

      Let’s take the classified documents case, shall we? Trump LIED about: declassifying the documents, returning the documents, and he had Walt Nauta move boxes around to keep his attorney from finding the papers and returning them AFTER the other attorney LIED to the FBI about returning all of them. These papers contain NATIONAL SECRETS, disclosure of which could cause people to die and compromise national security. BUT, Turley believes his time and platform are better used for attacking Joe Biden over the details in a story from WWII that he was TOLD about. Sheesh! I’d think even you Trump disciples could see the desperation here–something, anything, to attack Biden for when Trump is one of the most-notorious liars on the planet.

      1. Gigi: Please, please, in all your redundant posts, simply write, “fat, orange pig. Trump Trump Trump”
        That way, we all will know what your comment is about, and it won’t take us so long to scroll past it.

      2. You should seriously go back and watch some of Johnny Carson’s comedy riffs on JoeTato’s pathalogical lying. He’s being pulling this crap since for decades. He was once given the title “the most pathological liar in politics.” He lied about the death of his wife. He lied about his education. He not only continues to lie in his braggadocious tales even when the lefty rags fact check him, but stupidly tells the same lies over and over…exaggerating a little more with each telling.
        Heck, according to JoeTato’s tales, every member of the Biden family since the dawn of man has been either a military or sports hero. Amazing.

      3. Biden, and his press secretary, continually repeat the claim that Trump called veterans “suckers and losers”…
        That is a lie.
        That is false.
        That is fiction.
        But we all know that Joe Biden is a lifelong pathological liar.
        It is what career politician Joe Biden does: He lies.
        You have to wonder why neither Joe, nor his black, lesbian spokes person are rarely, if ever, called out by the press or even the so-called FACT CHECKERS, for obvious lies?
        It’s just such a mystery.

      4. This is the Democrat mindset. Who on earth would want to live under the lawless RULE of these psychopaths?

        “@ByronYork
        Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson ran the January 6 committee, which mixed elements of show trial and reality series. Focused solely on Trump, of course. Now, Thompson wants to take away Trump’s Secret Service protection if Trump is convicted on any of the 88 felony charges levelled against him by elected Democratic prosecutors and a Biden Justice Department appointee. Obvious subtext here is that removing USSS would make it easier for someone to kill Trump, which is arguably the goal of Thompson’s bill, H.R. 8081: The DISGRACED Former Protectees Act. https://democrats-homeland.house.gov/imo/media/doc/disgraced_former_protectees_act_factsheet1.pdf…“

      5. Gigi writes:

        “Let’s take the classified documents case, shall we? Trump LIED about: declassifying the documents, returning the documents, and he had Walt Nauta move boxes around to keep his attorney from finding the papers and returning them AFTER the other attorney LIED to the FBI about returning all of them.”
        This is a LIE.

        “These papers contain NATIONAL SECRETS, disclosure of which could cause people to die and compromise national security.”
        This is a LIE.

        If anyone should be prosecuted and sent to PRISON for classified document CRIMES it is undoubtedly Joe Biden.
        This is a FACT.

        1. Trump’s declassified papers COULD have sent a whole lot of government operators and traitors to PRISON for the rest of their lives. Sending the traitors to Gitmo is not to be confused with: “compromising national security.”

      7. There were no cannibals in the area, i.e. at the bottom of the sea. The nearest cannibals were in the New Guinea Highlands.

    2. And remember he pooped his pant in front of the pope… ya I would say no shit..but in this case that’s wrong

  3. The problem is really not Biden. The problem is the people who vote for guys like Biden. Solve that problem and you will never have another Biden.

  4. I have a hard drive full of Biden’s lies… it amazes me how stupid east coast liberals are. The man is a sociopath.

  6. What is entirely disappointing about this article is Professor Turley’s decision to focus on the examples of actual cannibalism rather than pursuing what is most important here. He states: “. . . Some are more serious like lying about influence peddling by his family or constitutional norms. . . . .” and then he chooses to expand upon the “less serious” lies such as the details of Uncle Boozy’s demise and the ridiculous subject of cannibalism. Joe Biden is clearly now a confused old man. We all know it. When will he be held to account for his years of treasonous criminal activity? When will the media focus on the more serious lies?

    1. Valerie M: no matter how many times people like you pretend to speak for what “we” know–it’s still the purchased alt-right BS people like Hannity and Turley are paid to spout. They harp that Biden is demented–even though it’s a lie. He’s done a marvelous job of turning around the disasters left by Trump and his incomptence. If any presidential candidate is lacking in normal cognition, it’s the orange pig who has no respect for the rule of law.–refusing to stand for the jury, refusing to comply with the Judge’s gag order, constantly criticizing the judge, witnesses, the prosecutor, and Turley even accuses the entire NY judicial system of wrong doing because it is prosecuting Trump for the same crimes Michael Cohen was convicted of and for which he served a prison sentence. Turley didn’t say the NY justice system was on trial when Michael Cohen was tried—I wonder why.

      You claim Biden is lying about “influence peddling”, but there’s no proof,—something Turley knows very well, but, just like the other paid pundits on Fox, he’s paid to attack Biden and falsely accuse him of “influence peddling, despite there being no proof. Because Republicans can’t prove influence peddling (which isn’t illegal, BTW–it’s what lobbyists do), they just claim it exists anyway and dupes like you believe it and keep propagating it. Just like the pig you worship who keeps claiming he “really won” in 2020—despite all proof to the contrary–and dupes like you keep on believing it. What are the “years of treasonous criminal activity” you dare to claim exist? I want you to produce proof.

      2. Like Paula Jones and Bill & Hillary Clinton cover up?
        Hummm when is their court date…don’t they still live in NY?

        1. Yup.. bill paid her $850,000 to not prosecute him for sexual assault… hmmmmm

      3. “ They harp that Biden is demented–even though it’s a lie. He’s done a marvelous job of turning around the disasters left by Trump and his incomptence.”
        😂🤣😂

    2. Sadly, Biden’s lying is not a recent development! It started when he first ran for Congress. He lied about his law class stature, a non-existent scholarship, # of degrees and countless other falsehoods since then

  7. From the White House transcript:

    “Right after D-Day, on Sunday, all four of my mother’s brothers signed up to go fight in the military.”

    My maternal grandfather enlisted in the Navy after Pearl Harbor was bombed. He didn’t want the Army to get him because he wanted a dry bed.

    According to Bluto, the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

    I’m sure the Finnegan brothers tried to enlist after Pearl Harbor. Bless them for their patriotism.

  9. When challenged on the story, President Munchausen noted the tremendous diving ability of the cannibals, allowing them to raid downed planes in hundreds of feet of water, retrieving the bodies for their stew pots (“True story!” he added). He then punctuated his explanation with a lusty “C’mon man!”.

  10. This is who Biden is. It is who he has always been. An idiot and a liar. If you look back in his career, you will find nothing more than stupid things he has said, and outrageous lies he has told. No accomplishments, other than an ability to game the system, get re-elected, and stuff his pockets. There are no redeeming features.

    1. Biden & Trump are both cut from the same cloth. Ted Cruz summed up Trump best: “This man is a pathological liar, utterly immoral, & a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen.”

      13 of Trump’s former Cabinet Secretaries, advisors & communications managers say he’s unfit for office. His former Defense Secretary Mark Esper calls Trump a threat to democracy. Trump’s chief of staff, General John Kelly, said Trump “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.” These are the people Trump personally hired, who witnessed Trump up close & personal in the White House.

      There are no redeeming features in Biden & Trump.

  11. For those MAGA morons still holding Truth Social shares, please be advised that today’s rally is the classical short squeeze. This stock has one of the highest short sale percentages.

    Big rally on huge volume is the hallmark of this phenomenon. Today, 45% of the share float changed hands. This can only be short sellers panicking and rushing to cover their positions. A lot of this may also be brokers forcing short sellers to close out their positions.

    The inevitable consequence of a short squeeze of this magnitude is that once it is over, there will be a total collapse of the stock price.

    What triggered this you may ask. Well look no further than the company itself, which this morning filed a statement with the SEC that they are telling their retail stockholders to advise their brokers to move their stock into a cash account so that it it unavailable to be loaned to short sellers. They are also advising that they can request the stock to be transferred to the company’s own transfer agent, Odyssey, who will hold the share so they will not be available to short sellers.

    This inevitably scared the short sellers to cover their positions, hence the squeeze.

    Here is the notification from the company. You can find it here https://ir.tmtgcorp.com/faq/

    Brokerage firms may facilitate short selling in DJT’s shares by lending DJT’s shareholders’ shares held in margin accounts. Through this practice, brokerage firms earn an alternative source of revenue by “lending” shares to sophisticated and institutional investors who are betting that the price of the particular stock will decrease over a period of time. If the price of the stock in fact decreases, then the brokerage firm and the sophisticated and institutional investors will have made a profit, while the ultimate retail investor has not.

    For long-term shareholders who believe in the Company’s future, the Company is highlighting the following actions you can take with your brokerage firm to prevent the lending of your shares for short selling:

    1. holding your DJT shares in a cash account at your brokerage firm instead of a margin account (a model instruction letter is set forth under the heading “Example Form of Letter to Broker” below); or
    2. opting out of any securities lending programs, which should stop your broker from lending your shares; or
    3. moving your shares to Odyssey Transfer and Trust Company, the Company’s transfer agent (please note that you may incur certain costs in connection with any such transfer and once your shares are moved to our transfer agent, your ability to timely transfer your shares back to a brokerage firm and sell may be a longer process); or
    4. transferring your shares to your bank (if they have custody services) and holding them in your retirement account (if permitted by your plan).

    Example Form of Letter to Broker

    If you decide to instruct your broker not to make your shares available for lending to short sellers, the following is a sample of the language you can use in your email or letter to the Branch Manager of your brokerage account:

    [Broker Name]
    [Broker Address]

    Attn: Branch Manager

    My Account [Account Number]

    Dear Sir or Madam:

    Please accept this written instruction to make sure that the following securities are held in my cash account only and accordingly are not available for any stock loan activities. I hereby expressly opt-out of any securities lending programs and instruct you to not loan out any of my shares.

    Securities:

    [Number] shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) and any DJT shares subsequently acquired.

    Please confirm receipt and compliance with this request.

    This turkey is going to zero!!!!!!!

    HAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA

    1. You just explained the reason for the fall in stock price is artificial. Caused by speculative short selling. The rally is the short positions evening out.

      ALL of this has nothing the do with the financial performance of the company

      You are the dope being duped

  12. Stay tuned folks! Next, we will hear dementia Joe tell us about the time……. Malarky!

  13. One of Biden’s most outrageous false stories was bragging about telling Ukrainian government officials ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money” then claiming Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin got fired before Biden left Ukraine that day. That’s indisputably false. Biden’s last trip to Ukraine was in December, 2015. Ukrainian parliament didn’t terminate Shokin until March 29, 2016.

    Petro Poroshenko was Ukraine’s president when his country’s parlliament terminated Shokin. In an interview on Fox News last year, Poroshenko said there wasn’t a single word of truth to Shokin’s claim that Biden pressured Poroshenko into firing him because he was investigating Burisma. Poroshenko’s description of Shokin: “First of all, this is the completely crazy person. This is something wrong with him.”

    Turley is absolutely right that no one in their right mind should ever believe anything Biden says.

    1. “First of all, this is the completely crazy person. This is something wrong with him.”

      – Poroshenko
      ________________

      I beg to differ.

      The “crazy person[s]” are the actual Americans who have foolishly and obliviously given their entire country—the country of the American Founders—away, lock, stock, and barrel, to all comers.

  14. 58 per cent of Democrats think that Trump’s trial is justified. A big number. Does it also mean that 42 percent of Democrats think that his trial is politically motivated?Something to ponder come election day

  15. OT

    George Herbert Walker Bush was the son of the wealthy and successful Prescott Bush.  In the past, one of the first inquiries of recruits on standard questionnaires administered when entering military service was whether the individual had renowned, prominent, or public-official relatives.  George H.W. Bush was the son of Prescott Bush, who was the son of Samuel P. Bush, who was a wealthy industrialist closely associated with Frank Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller, E. H. Harriman, Bernard Baruch, the Ohio Manufacturers Association, the Federal Reserve Board, the War Industries Board, etc. 

    In September 1944, at the end of World War II, when the outcome was secure, do you really believe that George Herbert Walker Bush served gallantly, with unparalleled courage and abandon, or was he accidentally shot down (who really knows, did the Navy recover the plane?) in a relatively minor incident as he was attempting to acquire a modicum of “war cred” on a mission that was closely watched, directed, and supervised, well within range of secure protection and Naval and Air recovery platforms?  What sane commander would ever want to be responsible for the loss of a Bush?  There goes your career, right? 

    Oh, and the “Haughty” John Kerry was awarded a Purple Heart for 15 minutes of “combat” fame in Vietnam.  Just ask the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.” 

    1. George Herbert Walker Bush was attacked while flying near Chichi Jima. His plane sustained some bullet damage and became doomed to go down. This fighter had two other crewman. When Bush tried to communicate with them by intercom, he got no answer and assumed they had been killed. He then bailed out and the plane and crewman were lost. When reading this, I wondered why he didn’t consider that maybe the intercom system had been put out of commission and the crewmen weren’t dead. He might have been able to ditch the plane and save them.

      1. Easy to second guess from the cheap seats. Unless you’ve been under fire, you got no right to talk

        1. 11Bravo, CIB, PH, 25th Div., Cambodia Incursion, 30 April 1970…left the CBS combat film crew at the border staging area, didn’t see you anywhere around.

  17. Jonathan: The MAGA crowd thinks AG Letitia James is solely bent in getting DJT. That false claim is contradicted by a recent settlement case in which James forced two GOP operatives to pay the state of NY $1.2 million for interfering in the 2020 election. What is that case about?

    Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman launched a robocall campaign designed to prevent Black New Yorkers from voting by mail in the 2020 election. The trio sent false and threatening messages to Black voters to discourage them from voting. The same robocalls were used in other cities–like Cleveland, Chicago an other cities with large numbers of Black voters.

    As a result of this case Burkman lost his law license. Now you would think Wohl and Burkman would have learned their lesson. Nope. In 2022 they pled guilty for doing the same thing. Last year the FCC fined the trio $5.1 million for making more than 1,100 similar unlawful robocalls in August and September of 2020.

    Will the GOP try to use the same type of tactics this year? I predict they will. But AG James is onto these schemes–at least in NY. She has shown she will apply NY laws to anyone who violates the state laws–regardless of who they are. It’s not just about DJT!

    1. “If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”

      – Theodore Roosevelt
      _________________________

      Dennis has the Turley Blog audience by the short hairs, and its members will steadfastly follow him into battle; I have no doubt. 

      You go, Den.

        1. Sarc/On.

          Den obviously believes he is converting the visitors to the Turley Blog into good communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs); that they are following him.

          What say you?

          Huh?

    2. Thanks Dennis. Turley’s complaining about Biden’s alleged untruths–but, how do they allegedly harm anyone? How about these whoppers–“it’s only one person coming from China”…”15 cases will soon be 0 cases”….”you’ll be back in church for Easter”, and the claims about Hydroxychloroquine and bleach and lights killing COVID. Notice Turley admits that Biden said his uncle MAY have been eaten by cannibals. That’s not a lie. He did die near New Guinea where there were cannibals.

      We also have: “Frankly we DID win this election”…”fight like hell or you’re not going to have a country any more”. THESE lies actually harmed people. BUT, Turley’s not paid to discuss Trump’s endless lies, including the ones that caused Americans to die. He also doesn’t discuss Trump trying to get Zelenskyy to gin up lies about Joe Biden, for which he got impeached.

    3. Thought this article was about Biden lying about his Uncle getting eaten by cannibals. Are you saying cannibalism and the actions of AG James are equivalent?

  19. Friedrich Nietzsche:
    “Facta! Yes, Facta ficta! – A historian has to do, not with what actually happened, but only with events supposed to have happened: for only the latter have produced an effect. Likewise only with supposed heroes. His theme, so-called world history, is opinions about supposed actions and their supposed motives, which in turn give rise to further opinions and actions, the reality of which is however at once vaporized again and produce an effect only as vapour – a continual generation and pregnancy of phantoms over the impenetrable mist of unfathomable reality. All historians speak of things which have never existed except in imagination.”

    President Biden “Truth over Facts”!!!

  20. Turley did not write this.

    I doubt that he actually writes any of this stuff.

    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. I don’t know…I work remotely. Maybe (like MANY other folks) he’s got a laptop to bring with him? Anyway, whomever it is writing this stuff, he’s sure a smart guy!

      1. Its not just the writing of these pieces. The pieces are almost always topical and would require the writer to be monitoring the news constantly. Also, as with this piece, a considerable amount of research would be required to get the unusual amount of detail.

        Is this how you spend your vacations???

    3. I don’t think Anonymous really wrote his comment; it appears to have been generated by a bot; it showed as much thought.

    4. What’s more likely is Dennis writing and piling up
      his many OT comments
      hours, days, etc. before posting them.

    5. That’s Professor Turley to you.

      It’s a shame there is no Anonymous Blog for America to visit, I’m certain it would be perpetually jammed.

      You’d be there, right?

      We may always hope.

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