On July, 8, 1944, shortly before noon near Waldegg, Austria, a P-38 piloted by 23-year-old Lt. Henry Donald Mitchell crashed after a “flight sweep” with the 48th Fighter Squadron to Vienna, Austria. His last known words were “Green Two, O.K.”

The pilot from Harmon, who had been a flight instructor at Starnes Flying Service in Conway just before the war, is still listed as “MIA.” He is one of nearly 73,000 World War II servicemen listed as missing in action by the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. But he was the only big brother for Bob Mitchell of Fort Smith.

In 1997, the younger Mitchell began a search from his North Sixth Street home to find his brother and bring home his remains. With the help of then-U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson’s office in Fort Smith, Mitchell was put in contact with Markus Reisner in Austria. Reisner is in a group that searches for downed World War II aircraft. A few years ago, using information from the U.S. military via Mitchell, and interviews with locals who recalled the crash, Reisner and his group found Henry Mitchell’s P-38.

According to Cherri Lawless at the Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center in Fort Knox, Ky., the plane’s identity was confirmed by serial numbers from the P-38 aircraft manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.

Getting permission to dig around the crash site has been a struggle that continues to be endured by Mitchell, Reisner and the POW/MIA Accounting Agency. The land is a private hunting district owned by a “Mr. Schmid” of Schmid Industrieholding.

Reisner noted in an August 2015 email to Mitchell that after talking with Schmid, there was a “50-50” chance of being allowed on the land to do the minor excavation. Despite being given assurances they would not need heavy equipment for digging, permission was never granted.

Reisner explained then that he felt the main reason for not being allowed to excavate is because it was in a “fenced deer run." And based on his experiences with other similar cases, Reisner has been given the impression there is a “fear” by the landowner that “any noise will disturb the game in the run.”

Coincidentally, the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Strategic Partnerships division is directed by Thomas D. Holland, a Fort Smith native. The Times Record reported on Holland's work and awards in 2014.

In a recent email to Mitchell, Holland noted he is “deterred but not defeated” in the effort to obtain permission from Schmid.

“My hope is that showing that we can get in, do the work, not damage his property, get out, and actually have success recovering identifiable remains, will convince him that we are legitimate and persuade him to let us in,” Holland wrote in an email to Mitchell on Aug. 28.

Mitchell said his brother was a second lieutenant and had been stationed in Italy with the 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Group.

"The reason there's so many plane crashes in Austria ... you see Vienna had a lot of factories that were manufacturing airplane parts for the Germans and airplanes, too," Mitchell said.

Those who saw the plane go down told Reisner no parachute was seen opening before the crash. Mitchell noted in a recent interview at his home that he was also informed there were no indications the aircraft had caught fire before or after the crash.

“They think there was no fuel on board the plane when it crashed,” Mitchell said. “Ammo probably hit the plane’s fuel tanks and let out all the gas … Personally I don’t think he was on that airplane, but we will never know if they can’t get back in to dig.”

Dental records and DNA samples were sent to Dover Air Force Base for confirmation if remains are found at the P-38 crash site. Mitchell said if his brother’s remains are ever found, they will be placed in the U.S. National Cemetery at Fayetteville. There is already an MIA marker for him there.

Memories of Henry

"I remember when he was down at Starnes Flying Service, he would borrow an airplane sometimes and fly up to northwest Arkansas, and we never knew when he was coming, but he'd buzz us and get everybody outside and then he'd get down real low, turn the engine off, slide the panel back and either say, 'Meet me in Fayetteville,' or 'Meet me in Siloam," turn it back on and keep on going," Mitchell remembered.

Another story he recalled involved his mother being upset over her older son's "daredevil" flying.

"We were out picking green beans and he was coming in low ... my mother was just having a fit," Mitchell said. "He flew under the high line wires, did a loop back over and went under them again, and then came back around and said 'Meet me in Siloam!'"

Bob Mitchell, now 87, said he was about 11 years old, and his brother was about 20, when they went up for spin around northwest Arkansas. They landed back at the airfield in Siloam where WWI fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker had just landed his Ford Tri-Motor airplane. Rickebacker was a friend of John Brown's and had come back to visit him, Mitchell said. Henry Mitchell attended college at John Brown University before going off to war in 1943.

Post-mission statement

Following the July 1944 mission, flight leader Lt. Donald E. Wimmer wrote a statement for the Army Air Corps that detailed the final moments for Lt. Henry Mitchell.

“I was leading Green Flight, on a fighter sweep to Vienna,” Wimmer's typed statement reads. “Lt. Mitchell was flying my wing, or the No. 2 position. About 10 miles northeast of Vienna, at 23,000 feet at approximately 1105, my No. 3 man called a left break. We broke in place, Lt. Mitchell followed through on the turn as I glanced up in the mirror and saw him about one plane length behind me. Observing enemy aircraft attacking from the rear, I called a right break and while engaging the e/a I noticed that Lt. Mitchell was nowhere within my view. The No. 3 and 4 men of my flight did not hear my command to break right and continued to chase the e/a. I did not see Lt. Mitchell after the right break and neither did the pilots flying No. 3 and 4 positions. I do not know what happened to him, but I am sure he was not shot up in the engagement which just ended.

“After the enemy aircraft was dispersed, I called my flight to have them check in. This was at approximately 11:25. I said ‘Fried Fish, Green Flight, Check in.” I distinctly heard ‘Green Two, O.K.’”

“Although I tried to contact Lt. Mitchell again — I never heard from him or saw him again," Wimmer wrote.

Recent discoveries

Holland reported to Mitchell in the Aug. 28 email that although they have not had luck getting onto Schmid’s property, crews with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency were recently successful in recovering the remains of missing Americans in Austria from B-24 Liberator and P-51 Mustang crash sites.

“The B-24 was done by the University of Maryland and the University of Vienna (they just finished a week ago.) The P-51 was done by the University of New Orleans and the University of Innsbruck,” Holland wrote in the email to Mitchell.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has a website at www.dpaa.mil/Our-Missing/Recently-Accounted-For/ that gives the names and places of servicemen that have been found. On Sept. 15, for example, the remains of Seaman 2nd Class George J. Wilcox and Water Tender 2nd Class Porter L. Rich were recovered from the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor after last being seen on Dec. 7, 1941. Several other sailors on the Oklahoma were recovered the weeks before.