HPO interested in Moore’s find

The Historic Preservation Office would meet with businessman-historian Kenneth Moore in connection with the discovery of aircraft wreckage that is believed to be an American fighter plane that was gunned down near Pagan during World War II.

HPO historian Genevieve Cabrera said the agency and Moore were to meet yesterday. She said the HPO would obtain information about the find from Moore and possibly schedule a trip to Pagan.

However, Cabrera pointed out, “Moore has not had any official notification to the HPO.”

She added, though, that Moore initiated a meeting after the HPO called the businessman’s attention for searching for WWII remains without a permit from the agency.

“Any[one] looking for cultural resources material must have first consultation with HPO,” Cabrera said. “Even land clearing requires a permit.”

She said Moore’s trip to Pagan falls within the purview of the HPO, considering that the trader’s purpose was to look for WWII remnants.

Cabrera said, however, that permit issue could be ironed out in the meeting between Moore and HPO director Epiphanio Cabrera. She said Moore could file an application with HPO if he intends to conduct similar activities in the future.

Following a 10-day trip to Pagan recently, Moore disclosed that his team found wreckage believed to be from the fighter plane flown by Lt. Roy Bechtol, who was reportedly shot down by Japanese counterparts on June 23, 1944.

Bechtol’s body has never been found since then, according to Moore. He said he learned more about Bechtol’s fate when he met with war veteran and Navy Cross medallist Rudy Matz in a recent meeting of members of the Fighter Pilots Association in San Diego, California.

Matz reportedly recounted that he was flying another fighter plane above that of Bechtol near Pagan when the latter’s plane went down.

Moore said he has registered the discovery with the Joint Prisoners of War-Missing in Action Accounting Command in Honolulu, Hawaii by contacting Tom Holland, head of the command’s J2 Intelligence Division. He said members of the military’s forensic laboratory would soon go to Pagan to confirm his discovery.

Moore, who is based in Arizona, said he found his way to the CNMI to find the downed fighter plane of his uncle, Lt. William Webber, who also perished during the war. The plane and his uncle’s remains have yet to be found after his 27 years of looking for them, Moore said.

Since then, Moore said he became interested in finding WWII artifacts and missing American servicemen. He said he has collected thousands of documents about WWII and would like to work with the HPO and federal authorities, assuring that he would simply take photographs of any find and turn it over to authorities.

Moore, the chairman and chief executive officer of Azmar International company that had wanted to extract pozzolan deposits from Pagan, said his company has not been actively pursuing the pozzolan project anymore, although the Azmar mechanism remains in place.

Pozzolan, which is only found in few places around the world, may be used as a component to manufacture high-grade cement. Tons of pozzolan deposits have lain on Pagan’s grounds following a volcanic eruption. Extraction of the pozzolan deposits potentially generates millions of dollars in business and government revenue.