Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape criticized US President Joe Biden on Monday for claiming that his uncle had been killed and eaten by the island nation’s cannibal tribesmen during World War II, arguing that his country did not deserve the negative association.
Biden’s remarks came during a campaign stop in Scranton, Pennsylvania last week, where he gave a speech at the United Steelworkers headquarters. During the address, Biden praised his late uncle, Second Lt. Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr. of the 5th Air Force, for his service during the war. Finnegan and his fellow crewmen disappeared on May 14, 1944, during a flight from Los Negros Island to Nadzab Airfield in New Guinea.
“He got shot down in New Guinea and they never found the body because there used to be — there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea,” Biden said, going on to mention his late son Beau Biden’s military service as well.
Biden, for the third time in less than 24 hours, tells the dubious story about his "Uncle Bosey" and "a lot of cannibals" in New Guinea before repeating the debunked "suckers and losers" hoax.
He also claims D-Day was on a Sunday (it was on a Tuesday).
HE IS NOT WELL. pic.twitter.com/iqeOjjFY0v
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 17, 2024
Biden had told this same story earlier in the day while visiting a World War II memorial elsewhere in the city.
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But according to the official military record of Finnegan’s disappearance, the plane went down due to a mechanical failure, crashlanding in the ocean, not on an island. “Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft’s nose hit the water hard,” military documents state. “Three men failed to emerge from the sinking wreck and were lost in the crash. One crew member survived and was rescued by a passing barge. An aerial search the next day found no trace of the missing aircraft or the lost crew members.”
Finnegan was among those who sank with the plane during the initial landing.
New Guinea was a key battleground during the war given its proximity to Australia, making it a prime target for Japanese forces. The island’s jungle terrain was frequently bombed as the Allies pushed into the Pacific theater, leaving behind extensive destruction.
To Biden’s point, New Guinea’s native inhabitants also have an extensive history of practicing ritualistic cannibalism, believing that eating the flesh of fallen enemies would give them strength in battle. Michael Rockefeller, the 23-year-old son of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, disappeared off the coast of the island in 1961 during an anthropological survey, and his family maintained that he was killed and eaten by tribesmen after making landfall.
However, as the military record indicates, Ambrose Finnegan likely never made it to shore after the crash, meaning his body was lost at sea rather than consumed by natives.
“President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” Prime Minister Marape said in response to Biden’s version of events. “World War II was not the doing of my people; however, they were needlessly dragged into a conflict that was not their doing.”
“The remains of WWII lie scattered all over PNG, including the plane that carried President Biden’s uncle,” he continued. “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 World War II in PNG as possible, including those of servicemen who lost their lives like Ambrose Finnegan.”
When pressed by reporters for clarification about Biden’s story, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that “we should not make jokes about it” and instead emphasized the president’s “emotional moment” while commemorating his fallen relatives.
“So, his uncle, who lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea. The president highlighted his uncle’s story as he made the case for honoring our sacred commitment to equip those we send to war and take care of them and their families when they come home,” Jean-Pierre said.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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