U.S. pilot killed in WWII is accounted for 80 years after bomber named “Heaven Can Wait” crashed into ocean

An American pilot killed in World War II has been accounted for 80 years after his bomber — dubbed “Heaven Can Wait” — crashed off the coast of New Guinea, U.S. officials revealed Monday.

U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Herbert G. Tennyson, 24, of Wichita, Kansas, was officially accounted for on Sept. 25, 2024, and Tennyson’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said in a news release.

On March 11, 1944, Tennyson was the pilot onboard a B-24D Liberator bomber called “Heaven Can Wait” during a bombing mission in Hansa Bay, located along the northern coast of New Guinea. Officials said crew members from other aircraft in the formation reported seeing flames shooting out from the bomb bay and tail of Tennyson’s plane.  Military officials believe anti-aircraft fire had hit the plane, causing one of the bombs it was carrying to explode.

Airmen from other planes in the formation reported seeing “Heaven Can Wait” pitching up violently before banking left and plummeting into the Pacific Ocean. Several aircraft circled the crash site to search for signs of life.

“After the bombing run the formation circled to the right and endeavored with binoculars to see signs of survivors,” Sgt. Arnold S. Smith, a waist gunner aboard another plane in the formation, reported at the time. “I could see no evidence that bodies remained at the surface.”

After the war, a special unit of the U.S. military conducted extensive searches of crash sites in New Guinea. In 1950, officials concluded the remains of Tennyson and the 10 other “Heaven Can Wait” crew members killed in the crash were non-recoverable.

In October 2017, an organization called Project Recover located the wreckage of a B-24 aircraft in Hansa Bay while making sonar scans during a survey, and it was eventually confirmed to be the final resting place of “Heaven Can Wait.” Two years later, a DPAA underwater investigation team conducted multiple surveys of the wreckage, clearing the site of any undetonated explosives.

Finally, in 2023, an underwater recovery team excavated the crash site. The recovered evidence, which included life support equipment and identification tags, was sent to a DPAA laboratory for analysis.

Scientists were finally able to identify Tennyson’s remains, using dental and anthropological analysis and mitochondrial DNA analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence.

Tennyson will be buried in Wichita, Kansas, on a date yet to be determined.

Tennyson is at least the fourth crewmember of “Heaven Can Wait” to be positively identified by the U.S. military. Just last month, DPAA announced that Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Eugene J. Darrigan, 26, of Wappinger’s Falls, New York, was accounted for. Darrigan was the radio operator on board the bomber.

In November, DPAA announced that Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr., 21, of Livermore, California, was accounted for. Kelly was the bombardier onboard “Heaven Can Wait.” Two months before that, DPAA announced that Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Donald W. Sheppick, was accounted for. Sheppick was the navigator on the plane.