Lost in Shangri-la

CAST OF CHARACTERS

(In Alphabetical Order)

SANTIAGO “SANDY” ABRENICA—Master sergeant in U.S. Army 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Right-hand man to Captain C. Earl Walter Jr.

CUSTODIO ALERTA—Corporal in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Volunteered for rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

G. REYNOLDS ALLEN—Captain in the U.S. Army Air Forces and a pilot of the Waco glider dubbed the Fanless Faggot.

RICHARD ARCHBOLD—Biological researcher and sponsor/organizer of the 1938 expedition that “discovered” the New Guinea valley later nicknamed “Shangri-La.”

WILLIAM D. BAKER—Captain in Army Air Forces and pilot of B-17 search plane that spotted the survivors in the jungle clearing.

ALFRED BAYLON—Sergeant in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Volunteered for rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

LAURA BESLEY—Sergeant in the Women’s Army Corps from Shippenville, Pennsylvania. Passenger aboard the Gremlin Special. Close friend of Margaret Hastings.

BENJAMIN “DOC” BULATAO—Sergeant in 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Lead medic in volunteer rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

ALEXANDER CANN—Canadian-born filmmaker for the Netherlands Indies Government Information Service. Former Hollywood actor and failed jewel thief.

HERMENEGILDO CAOILI—Sergeant in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Volunteered for rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

KENNETH DECKER—Tech sergeant from Kelso, Washington, who worked as a draftsman in the engineering department of the Far East Air Service Command. Passenger aboard the Gremlin Special.

FERNANDO DONGALLO—Sergeant in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Volunteered for rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

RAY T. ELSMORE—Colonel and commander of the 322nd Troop Carrier Wing of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Confirmed Major Myron Grimes’s report of a large valley in central New Guinea and subsequently became the U.S. military’s leading authority on the region. Directed rescue operations following Gremlin Special crash.

WALTER “WALLY” FLEMING—Army sergeant based in Hollandia, New Guinea, and sometime boyfriend of Margaret Hastings.

GEORGE GARDNER—Major in the U.S. Army Air Forces who supervised supply runs to the Gremlin Special survivors.

HERBERT F. GOOD—Army captain from Dayton, Ohio. Passenger aboard the Gremlin Special.

MYRON GRIMES—Major in the Army Air Forces who was the first U.S. military pilot to “discover” the New Guinea valley later nicknamed “Shangri-La.”

JACK GUTZEIT—Sergeant and radioman on C-47 search and supply plane known as the 311, following the Gremlin Special crash.

ELEANOR HANNA—Private from Montoursville, Pennsylvania, in the Women’s Army Corps. Passenger aboard the Gremlin Special.

MARGARET HASTINGS—Corporal from Owego, New York, in the Women’s Army Corps. Secretary to Colonel Peter Prossen, close friend of Laura Besley. Passenger aboard the Gremlin Special.

PATRICK HASTINGS—Widowed father of Margaret Hastings. Foreman in shoe factory in Owego, New York.

EDWARD T. IMPARATO—Colonel in the U.S. Army Air Forces and pilot of plane that dropped C. Earl Walter Jr.’s paratrooper team into Shangri-La.

JUAN “JOHNNY” JAVONILLO—Sergeant in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Volunteered for rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

HELEN KENT—Sergeant from Taft, California, in Women’s Army Corps. Passenger aboard the Gremlin Special.

GEORGE LAIT AND HARRY E. PATTERSON—War correspondents who flew over the New Guinea valley with Colonel Ray T. Elsmore and coined the nickname “Shangri-La.”

YALI LOGO—Leader of the Logo-Mabel clan who plotted to murder the Gremlin Special survivors.

JOHN AND ROBERT MCCOLLOM—Twin brothers from Trenton, Missouri, both lieutenants in the maintenance section of the Far East Air Service Command. Passengers aboard the Gremlin Special.

WILLIAM G. MCKENZIE—Captain in the U.S. Army Air Forces, from La Crosse, Wisconsin. Copilot to Major William J. Samuels in glider snatch plane.

HERBERT O. MENGEL—Captain in the U.S. Army Air Forces, from St. Petersburg, Florida, and pilot of the 311 supply plane.

MELVIN MOLLBERG—Private in the Army Air Forces, from Baudette, Minnesota. Assistant engineer on the Gremlin Special. Joined the crew as a favor to his best friend, Corporal James “Jimmy” Lutgring, who didn’t want to fly with Colonel Peter Prossen.

RALPH MORTON—War correspondent for The Associated Press who led coverage of the Gremlin Special crash, along with Walter Simmons of the Chicago Tribune.

GEORGE H. NICHOLSON JR.—Major in the Army Air Forces, from Medford, Massachusetts. Copilot on the Gremlin Special.

HENRY E. PALMER—Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A glider pilot aboard the Fanless Faggot.

PETER J. PROSSEN—Colonel in the Army Air Forces, from San Antonio, Texas. Chief of the maintenance section of the Far East Air Service Command in Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea. Pilot of the Gremlin Special.

CAMILO “RAMMY” RAMIREZ—Corporal in the U.S. Army’s 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Volunteer medic in rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

DON RUIZ—Sergeant in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Volunteered for rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

WILLIAM J. SAMUELS—Major in the U.S. Army Air Forces and commander of the 33rd Troop Carrier Squadron, from Decatur, Illinois. The most experienced U.S. pilot in the Southwest Pacific in “snatching” gliders from the ground into the air.

WALTER SIMMONS—War correspondent for the Chicago Tribune who led coverage of the Gremlin Special crash, along with Associated Press reporter Ralph Morton.

ROQUE VELASCO—Sergeant in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special). Volunteered for rescue mission following Gremlin Special crash.

C. EARL WALTER JR.—Captain in the U.S. Army’s 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (Special), from Portland, Oregon. Was awaiting a combat posting with his Filipino-American paratroopers when he volunteered to lead the rescue mission into Shangri-La.

WIMAYUK WANDIK—Known to the Gremlin Special survivors as “Pete,” a leader of the native village of Uwambo.

Additional Passengers and Crew Killed in the May 13, 1945, Crash of the Gremlin Special:

Major Herman F. Antonini of Danville, Illinois; Major Phillip J. Dattilo of Louisville, Kentucky; Private Alethia M. Fair of Hollywood, California; Captain Louis E. Freyman of Hammond, Indiana; Private Marian Gillis of Los Angeles; First Lieutenant Lawrence F. Holding of Raleigh, North Carolina; Private Mary M. Landau of Brooklyn, New York; Sergeant Marion W. McMonagle of Philadelphia; Corporal Charles R. Miller of Saint Joseph, Michigan; Sergeant Belle Naimer of the Bronx, New York; Private George R. Newcomer of Middletown, New York; Sergeant Hilliard Norris of Waynesville, North Carolina; and Corporal Melvyn Weber of Compton, California.