Dear 23rd Fighter Group Members and Families,
 
Last summer (7/05), our family received word from JPAC in Hawaii that our Uncle, 2nd Lt. Robert "Hoyle" Upchurch remains had possibly been located and recovered in China. Uncle Hoyle was never heard from after September 1944. His parents and 10 siblings all deceased now, always talked about Hoyle as if he might walk through the door and join the party. I am one of 12 nieces and nephews who grew up hearing about Uncle Hoyle being a Flying Tiger and dissappearing in bad weather somewhere over China. The numerous attempts our family made to find out about his fate where rebuffed.
 
Last fall, two deceased female sibling's three daughters donated blood for DNA comparison. Our eldest cousin in California was advised DNA results were a match. In this interim period I began posting messages at various web sites for any information on my uncle when I got a response from the author, Carl Molesworth. Carl's initial e-mail contained my uncle's fate as follows:
 


I went back to my records for the 74th Fighter Squadron and found Lt. Upchurch assigned to the unit on 6 October 1944 at Kanchow, China. I believe the actual date of his death was the same: 6 October 1944 (not 1945). My two sources are the 23rd Fighter Group history and the diary of a 74th FS pilot who mentions it.
1. The dairy of Capt. Charlie Cook, entry for 10 Oct 1944 but catching up an several days' events: "Upchurch, a new pilot, killed on first mission. Got in some bad weather with Gib (Lt. Robert Gibeault) and he crashed into a mountain."  Sorry, but neither Cook nor Gibeault are still living.
2. The 23rd History states Lt. R.H. Upchurch was killed on 6 October in a P-40N-20 (aircraft serial number 43-22786) when he crashed and burned at Shangpushu, 50 miles east of Chenshie).