Joseph Ingvald Natvik was born on October 12, 1924 in Columbia County, Wisconsin. On July 17, 1945, Natvik, a member of the 1330 Army Air Force Base Unit, Air Transport Command, was the engineer on board a C-109 aircraft, en route from Jorhat, India, to Hsinching, China, over “The Hump,” when the aircraft crashed in a remote area. All four crew members were declared deceased after an extensive search effort failed to locate the crash site.

In late 2007, an independent investigator, Clayton Kuhles, discovered aircraft wreckage in a deep ravine at a high altitude that correlated with Natvik’s aircraft. Possible osseous remains were recovered and turned over to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (a predecessor to DPAA).

In February 2009, a contracted group traveled to the reported crash site and confirmed the location of the aircraft wreckage. Also in 2009, a local resident in India turned over additional bone fragments he had taken from the crash site. One set of remains was identified on Feb. 9, 2016 as the co-pilot, 1st Lt. Frederick W. Langhorst, 24, of Yonkers, New York. Langhorst was buried Nov. 26, 2016, in Battle Creek, Michigan. Another set of remains was identified Sept. 24, 2018, as Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Allen R. Turner, 25, of Brookline, Massachusetts.

Pfc Natvik was officially declared dead on July 18, 1946. He is now buried in the Roselawn Memorial Park, Monona, Dane County, Wisconsin, USA. His name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Taguig City, Philippines, along with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will was placed next to his name to indicate that he has been accounted for. He also has a cenotaph located in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

He was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov