Remains ID'd of Wis. ensign killed a day after Pearl Harbor bombing

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: December 1, 2008 - 12:27 PM

Military officials have identified the remains of a Wisconsin naval officer killed by the Japanese in the Philippines one day after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the Defense Department announced today.

The remains of Ensign Robert G. Tills, of Manitowoc, will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors on March 23, 2009, in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Tills was the first Navy officer to be lost in defense of the Philippine Islands.

On Dec. 8, 1941, two PBY-4 Catalina seaplanes moored in Malalag Bay, Philippines, were strafed and sunk by Japanese aircraft, one day after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

All aboard the PBYs escaped the aircraft except for the 23-year-old Tills, "who was seen by another crewman to have been hit and killed by machine gun bullets," the Defense Department said in today's announcement.

In October 2007, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) was notified by U.S. authorities in the Philippines that aircraft wreckage had been discovered in Malalag Bay. A fragment of the wreckage bore the markings "PBY-4."

In November 2007, U.S. and Philippine military investigators surveyed the site and recovered human remains and other evidence.

Scientists from JPAC used forensic identification tools, circumstantial evidence and dental comparisons to identify Tills' remains.

According to the Navy's historical records:

Early on Dec. 8, 1941, one PBY seaplane began a search of the Philippine seas for signs of the Japanese. Two other seaplanes, including Tills', remained in Malalag Bay.

Shortly before 8 a.m., nine Japanese fighter planes "strafed the helpless PBYs, turning them into collanders of metal and fabric and setting them afire," according to the Navy records. "Ensign Robert Tills died in the fusillade of bullets."

Tills enlisted in the Naval Reserve as a seaman second class in 1937. He was 19 years old. Two years later, he was commissioned an ensign in the Naval Reserve. In April 1941, Tills gained regular Navy status and was soon flying patrols in the Philippines.

In June 1943, the USS Tills, a destroyer escort, was commissioned in the ensign's memory. It was launched less than four months later, providing escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.

After the war, the Tills was converted into a training vessel. In 1969, the ship was sunk as a training target off the U.S. East Coast.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

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