More details on Gardner brother found after 70 years

Peggy and Ted Gardner have kept the letters written by and to Charles Arthur Gardner close by for years. They include the letter written April 25, 1944, to Charles' mother, May Gardner, notifying her that her son was missing in action as of April 10 of that year, and a letter from later that summer noting the same and giving some details as to his whereabouts. Karen Johnson, a mortuary affairs specialist with the Past Conflicts Repatriation Branch of the Department of the Army's Casualty, Mortuary Affairs and Operation Center, presented some of those details on Thursday for the Gardners. Ted is the half-brother of Charles, whose remains were identified in late June after extensive DNA tests. Charles' remains were found along with those of seven other soldiers who went down in a B-24 over the island of New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean during the latter year of World War II. Four men reportedly parachuted from the plane. They were later discovered by the Japanese and executed. "We hope that knowing your brother's death was quick and not as brutal as those of the four who were captured can bring some comfort," Johnson told Gardner and his sister, Sarah Shaw, who was seated with her husband, Walter Leroy Shaw Jr. Johnson said the identification process began back in 2008, when investigators were "handed over some remains from local villagers who excavated the site." "The place had largely been untouched, other than being a hunting ground," Johnson said. "There were four main sites, spread over about 500 meters due to the way an aircraft breaks up upon crashing." Johnson said that a fifth man was always reported to have parachuted from the plane as well, but that only four were confirmed. "It is possible that the fifth man was Charles, and that he did not get far enough away or out of the plane and still went down with it," Johnson said. Peggy Gardner said she'd seen in one of Charles' letters to his mother where he talked about not completing his parachuting training. "He said he hadn't done it yet, but that he figured he wouldn't," she said. "He said if something happened, he saw himself going down with the plane. Isn't that something?" Manninglive.com will keep providing details on this story throughout the weekend.