Veterans memorial in La Jolla to honor Navy aviator nearly 80 years after his death
Radioman Walter Mintus, who was shot down in the Pacific during World War II and his remains weren’t found until 2016, will be recognized with a plaque on Mount Soledad on Memorial Day.
Nearly 80 years after his plane was shot down, Walter “Uncle Bert” Mintus will be recognized for his Navy service with a plaque at the Mount Soledad National Veterans Memorial in La Jolla as the 2023 Memorial Day honoree.
For Mintus’ family, the honor comes after decades of waiting, wondering and wishing for answers about Uncle Bert and what happened to him during World War II. Mintus had long been presumed dead, but it wasn’t until a nonprofit organization called Project Recover found and identified his remains in 2016 that the family got some answers, leading to a proper burial in his hometown and the recognition in La Jolla.
On July 27, 1944, Mintus, a Navy aviation radioman 3rd class, was part of a bombing mission targeting a Japanese base in the Republic of Palau in the western Pacific when his Avenger warplane was shot down and crashed into Malakal Harbor.
Three servicemen on board, including Mintus, were reported missing in action and subsequently presumed dead on Feb. 4, 1946.
“One would assume the family would give up at a certain point, but families [of service members missing in action] don’t,” said Pat Scannon, founder of Project Recover.
With that in mind, 50 years after the plane went down, Scannon obtained an aircraft action report and decided to go look for it.
“Honestly, at the time, my thinking was ‘It’s just a harbor, how hard could it be?’” he joked. “We looked for Mintus and the others, but the Avenger eluded us. We did many scuba dives, searched the grid surfaces of the ocean floor and never found him.”
Flash forward to 2013, when Scannon connected with Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Eric Terrill in La Jolla and Mark Moline from the University of Delaware. “They fell in love with our mission and we fell in love with their underwater robotics equipment,” Scannon said.
With that collaboration, Project Recovery was officially founded in 2014.
A crash site consistent with where the Avenger went down was identified.
“We submitted underwater documentation to the DPAA [Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency] and they promptly sent out a salvage ship and divers and located two sets of remains. One was Walter Mintus,” Scannon said.
The remains were sent to DPAA labs, where DNA analysis was done and personal effects such as dog tags were examined. Once Mintus was positively identified, Scannon contacted his descendants and traveled to the small town of Portage, Pa., to meet the family and repatriate the remains.
“When I opened the door, the serviceman was in full uniform and it just made me cry,” said Mintus’ great-niece Kathy Coder. “They told my dad there would be a full military funeral wherever he wanted. But my grandmother [Mintus’ sister] always said he would come home; she never gave up. She always wanted him to come home. So that was where we had the funeral. Our family is enormous, so it took a lot to get everyone there, but it united our family and gave us such hope.”
She said her father (Mintus’ nephew) is one of 14 children, eight of whom have followed in Mintus’ footsteps and enlisted in the military.
“Uncle Bert had a big part of that, with his engagement with the whole family,” Coder said. “They would see him in uniform and it would inspire them. His legacy lives on in the family. The cool part about his story is that most of us didn’t know about him; he was just a picture in my grandmother’s family room.”
The funeral in Portage included a procession of veterans on motorcycles, schoolchildren lining the street waving American flags and local emergency responders standing at attention.
“Walter took on this mythical status within the family,” said Project Recover President and Chief Executive Derek Abbey. “It was such an honor to witness what happens when the myth becomes a hero and the family is gifted with the knowledge of what happened to their loved one.”
As many as 5 million families are waiting to learn what happened to missing military members, Abbey said.
“Walter’s is a success story for us; this is the reason we do this work,” he said. “We can answer those long-held questions. We hope that by having the loved ones returned, that healing takes place.”
As the Mount Soledad National Veterans Memorial continues to grow, a new partnership is bringing added color and vibrancy to the La Jolla overlook.
Project Recover has located and documented the remains of more than 250 missing service members. Seventy of them were part of a crew deemed buried at sea, and they will remain there in accord with the Navy’s wishes. Seventeen have been repatriated home. The others are being processed and identified.
Mintus’ case, Scannon said, is “the culmination of decades of work. My reward is the family receiving word that their missing loved one is coming home and their unanswered questions are answered. We never knew this person, although we have been honored to get to know the family.”
“Walter’s is a success story for us; this is the reason we do this work. We can answer those long-held questions. We hope that by having the loved ones returned, that healing takes place.”
— Derek Abbey, Project Recover president and chief executive
Though Coder’s father, Richard, will not be able to travel to the ceremony in La Jolla, “the fact that [Mintus] is being seen as a hero across the country and to have him on that wall [of plaques] forever means the world to my dad,” she said. “He was so little when Uncle Bert went missing, so this has been a blessing to our family.”
The Memorial Day ceremony honoring Mintus and unveiling his plaque will begin at 11 a.m. Monday, May 29, at the Mount Soledad National Veterans Memorial, 6905 La Jolla Scenic Drive South.
“We could not be more proud to collaborate with the team of Project Recover as we host the family and relatives of WWII [missing in action] veteran Walter Mintus,” said Neil O’Connell, executive director of the Mount Soledad Memorial Association. “Our missions are different in nature, but our goals align as we honor and preserve the legacy of our veterans by fulfilling the promise of ‘no man left behind.’”
Mintus’ plaque will join 41 others that honor veterans missing in action and will be among a total of 6,600 plaques on the memorial’s walls.
The Memorial Day keynote speaker will be Navy Vice Adm. Kenneth Whitesell, commander of Naval Air Forces. Scannon will be the guest speaker.
The public is invited to attend the ceremony. Free parking will be available at Mount Soledad Presbyterian Church, 6551 Soledad Mountain Road, and San Diego French American School, 6550 Soledad Mountain Road. Learn more at soledadmemorial.org. ◆
Get the La Jolla Light weekly in your inbox
News, features and sports about La Jolla, every Thursday for free
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the La Jolla Light.
Become a press patron
At a time when local news is more important than ever, support from our readers is essential. If you are able to, please support the La Jolla Light today.
