It was a bleak day during World War II that Helen Joe Stoddard, now 101, received the telegram nobody wants to get. Her husband Loren, a B-24 pilot had been shot down 50 miles off of the coast of Saipan in the South Pacific and was missing in action.
It was May 29, 1944, when Captain Stoddard and his crew were flying a reconnaissance mission over Saipan, and while over enemy territory, one of the planes in their group lost an engine and started to fall behind. Captain Stoddard’s plane could have gone on, but they all knew that a crippled plane left alone could easily be shot down by Japanese forces. They made a brave decision to stay to support the plane, though they understood it was to their peril.
Then, it happened—a fierce dogfight with the Japanese fighters. Flames erupted behind the number 2 engine, and they plunged into the ocean.
Six of the crew members were killed, but Captain Stoddard and three others survived. Despite the terrible news that her husband was missing, Helen Joe was certain that he would come home again. She held on to this certainty for 16 months, supported by a promise in her patriarchal blessing.
