What are they hiding?

A retired constabulary deputy chief is taking a no-holds-barred approach in helping a family from Deltona, Fla. find answers in a mysterious lost-at-sea story that began in Newfoundland 65 years ago.
Gary Browne met Sandra Kanakis via the Internet while conducting research for his book "The Newfoundland Constabulary on the Home-Front World War Two," which will be published early next year by DRC Publishing.
Kanakis's grandfather and U.S. serviceman Capt. Warren Lessing perished Oct. 3, 1942 when the 27-ton American Export flying boat Excalibur crashed near Botwood Harbour.
The Excalibur was one of three Sikorsky flying boats commissioned by the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. Warren Lessing was among the 26 passengers and 11 crew on board the plane.
His body was never recovered.
Browne's research indicates the aircraft sank during salvage operations, while crews were working with ropes and cables to tow the wreckage to shore.
This is where the mystery deepens, Kanakis wrote in an e-mail to Browne.
"The United States version is that the plane sank, despite all efforts to keep it afloat, and eyewitnesses of the day swear that the ropes and cables were machine-gunned to deliberately sink the plane - by none other than U.S. military personnel."


INQUIRY
At the request of the Newfoundland Commission of Government, retired air force CEO Hal Pattison chaired an inquiry into the crash.
Pattison determined the crash was the result of an error in judgment by the plane's first officer.
Kanakis says her grandmother, Irene Lessing, was initially told by the U.S. government that her husband's remains were "reverently interred" in Newfoundland and would be returned at "cessation of hostilities."
During a recent telephone interview, Kanakis said that was not the case. Her grandfather's remains were never recovered.
Kanakis has been told that several of the men onboard the plane had briefcases handcuffed to their wrists.
In addition to his being a member of the U.S. Army, Kanakis's grandfather was a chemist and oil executive.
Her theory is that he may have been working on a secret formula for jet fuel at the time of the crash.
"He grew up with Jimmy Doolittle and he had a lot of friends in high places," she says.
Doolittle was an American aviation pioneer and general in the U.S. Army Air Force during the Second World War.
Kanakis says she was promised by the U.S. military that they would send a search and retrieval team to the crash site in August 2006.
The search has yet to take place.


COVERUP
Kanakis is steadfast in her allegation that there has been a coverup by U.S. military officials.
"I cannot begin to imagine what could be so important after almost 64 years but obviously there is something down there that we are not meant to know about," Kanakis writes to Browne.
Kanakis's father, now 85, is still haunted with unanswered questions. Yet to celebrate his 20th birthday when his father died, his last wish before he dies is to have his father's remains brought home for a proper burial in Arlington National Cemetery, dedicated to the military dead.
Browne's research leads him to believe that the bodies of two servicemen may still be intact in one of the plane's cabins, resting in about 80 feet of water.
He recently spoke to a local diver involved in recovering items from the wreckage about two decades ago.
The man, who Browne says asked to remain unnamed, found the impact area but not the main wreckage.
"He confirmed that two what he believes to be air force officers visited his house following the dive. … He confirmed he saw a briefcase on the sea floor but when he tried to retrieve it there was a bad silt problem. He'd hoped to get it on their return - but they were ordered not to go back."
While he realizes the crash happened during war time and senior U.S. military persons were onboard the plane at the time, Browne is curious as to what mission they might have been participating in and what secrecy level accompanied their work.
He hopes that by bringing the story to the forefront on the anniversary of the crash, the publicity will bring about a search and retrieval mission as soon as possible.
"I truly hope this article will attract provincial, federal and international attention - then someone in the U. S. military will step up to the plate, without delay, and do the things that will allow this family closure."