Jose L. Holguin

Jose L. Holguin (February 1, 1921 – March 22, 1994) was a United States Air Force colonel, who was the navigator and sole survivor of a World War II mission that ended with a crash on June 26, 1943, in the jungles of New Britain, now Papua New Guinea. Holguin was awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Prisoner of War and Army Commendation medals.

Early life Jose Luis Holguin, the son of Jose S. Holguin, was born on February 1, 1921, in Santa Ana, California, where his parents moved from Guadalupe, Mexico. Both were descendants of early New Spain settlers of the Guadalupe area from Spain.

His siblings were brother Ruben and sisters Hope and Angelina. He was wearing a parachute and landed as the plane exploded upon crashing into the jungle. With a broken back and having been shot in his leg and jaw, he crawled to the plane's wreckage through the jungle and saw the dead bodies of his fellow crewmen. Of 64 people held at the camp, he was one of seven to live through the experience.

Search for fellow crewmen Holguin retired from the Air Force at 42 years of age, after which he made it a life quest following retirement to find the bodies of his fellow crewmen who died when their bomber was shot down. He made three trips to New Britain, where he found the wreckage of Naughty but Nice, the nickname for the B-17 he and his crewmates operated that had a calendar girl painted on the nose of the plane. Nearby was a shallow grave with partial remains of the soldiers. Unable to identify the men initially,