Clear remains of war dead, PM tells US president

Prime Minister James Marape has urged the United States (US) to find as many remains of their war dead as they can from World War Two (WW2) in Papua New Guinea.
Marape said this would mean finding the truth about how these US servicemen lost their lives in PNG during WW2.
He made the call after US President, Joe Biden, appeared to imply his uncle was eaten by cannibals after his plane was shot down over PNG during WW2.
Biden, spoke about his uncle 2nd Lieutenant Ambrose Finnegan Jr while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday describing how ‘Uncle Bosie’ had flown single engine planes during reconnaissance flights during the war.
Biden said he ‘got shot down in New Guinea’ adding ‘they never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals for real, in that part of New Guinea.’
Official war records say that Finnegan was killed when a plane on which he was a passenger experienced engine failure and crashed into the Pacific ocean. The records do not mention cannibalism or state that the plane was shot down.
Marape said President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, he pointed to the fact that many unsolved mysteries of WW2 remain in the seas, mountains, and jungles of PNG.
“President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labelled as such,” Marape said in a statement.
“WW2 was not the doing of my people; however, they were needlessly dragged into a conflict that was not their doing.
“The remains of WW2 lie scattered all over PNG, including the plane that carried President Biden’s uncle, Ambrose Finnegan.
“Perhaps, given President Biden’s comments and the strong reaction from PNG and other parts of the world, it is time for the USA to find as many remains of WW2 in PNG as possible, including those of servicemen who lost their lives like Ambrose Finnegan. The theatres of war in PNG and Solomon Islands are many, and littered with the remains of WW2 including human remains, plane wrecks, shipwrecks, tunnels and bombs.”