Lt. JG James Deane

Lt. Deane, the co-pilot of an electronic countermeasure P4M Martin Mercator, was shot down by PRC MiG aircraft on August 23, 1956 (local time) over the Zhoushan Archipelago, off Hangzhou Bay. The US 7th fleet and China recovered four bodies, but Lt. Deane and 11 others were declared missing for a year and then deceased. Dr. Beverly Deane, Lt. Deane’s widow, reports she failed numerous times to obtain any further information from the US government because it was all classified.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Deane, through extensive research and trips to China, uncovered new information:

  1. According to US intelligence records, at least two of P4M survivors were rescued and taken to a local hospital in “Chen Hai” and later transferred to the “Pao-ting Army Hospital” 3rd Ward;
  2. One survivor was identified as Lt. Deane, a tall man with high cheek bones and not hairy. The second survivor identified by US intelligence as either AT2 Leonard Strykowsky or AO2 Warren Edgar Caron.
  3. In November 1956, the survivor identified as Deane was reportedly transferred to “Wan Ping Prison” (40 km west of Beijing), then to live with “Chien Leung” (or Ch’en Lung) in Beijing.
  4. A report also indicates the two Americans were moved to the residence of one “Tsai Mao,” Chief of Public Information, Ministry of Social Welfare in 1956.
  5. The other American was later reported to be working at the “Sheng-Lung Corporation" in Shanghai.
  6. During the 1990s, a former senior Chinese official told Dr. Deane that he remembered not only the shoot down incident but also the celebration by top Chinese Air Force officers at the capture of two American survivors.
  7. In 1999-2000, Dr. Shaver sought help from Li Xiaolin, head of the American section of the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Madame Li confirmed that Chinese records on Lt. Deane were then held by the PLA and not releasable.

The family seeks any information that could confirm or refute the reports above and reveal the fate of Lt. Deane and his fellow crewman.

“I am now 85-years-old and in ill health. My time is running out. I am asking -- no, rather I am begging -- China to show mercy so that I may know my husband’s fate. We had been married only three months when his plane went down, but the pain still persists:” Dr. Beverly Shaver (former wife)

“我现在已经85岁，身体又不好。我的时间已经不多了。我问 - 不，是我乞求 - 中国表现出怜悯，让我知道我丈夫的命运。虽然在他飞机被击落时，我们才刚结婚三个月，但疼痛依然存在：“Beverly Shaver博士（前妻)