By Brian Zanzonico
Stories about Army Air Corps Cpl. George Cunningham's affinity for Chinese food, about swimming off the piers in his hometown, Brooklyn, and about his beloved Corinne. About how close the five Cunningham brothers and one sister were after losing their mother at a young age, forced to fend for themselves while their father, John, worked. About how George Cunningham's father died 50 years ago, never knowing exactly what happened to his son.
"The biggest concern they had was that he [George] was captured and tortured," said Cunningham-Maudsley, who lives in Franklin Square. "That was their great fear. But they never heard anything, and because of that they thought maybe he went out to sea and crashed over the ocean."
On June 6 - the 62nd anniversary of D-Day - Cunningham-Maudsley's uncle, Frank, received a phone call from the U.S. Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel, and was told that his brother's remains had been positively identified through DNA tests and military dental records recovered from the wreckage of a C-47 cargo plane discovered in New Guinea in 1979.
"My wife got the call and thought it was a scam," Frank Cunningham said. "But a retired colonel from the Army and a master sergeant came to my house with a tape and book on the whole [recovery]."
Sixty-two years after his disappearance, Cunningham-Maudsley's uncle was coming home. George Cunningham was buried with full military honors at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale July 31.
"I never grieved George - I didn't know him - but his memory has been kept alive," Cunningham-Maudsley said. "It's a very odd feeling. It's an amazing story. We're so proud to be a part of American history. My children's children can tell an amazing story. It's quite an honor. It makes us proud to be Cunninghams and Americans."
According to the Defense Department's official release, a C-47 cargo plane crewed by Cunningham, a radio engineer, and 2nd Lt. Robert Cameron, the pilot, took off from Dobudura, New Guinea, on a flight to Hollandia, New Guinea, on Dec. 10, 1944, with three passengers aboard. Forty minutes into the flight, the crew radioed a request for weather information. Another pilot in the area said the weather was bad, and that he was headed out to sea to avoid it. That was the last communication with Cunningham's plane. Search teams in the area from the Royal Australian Air Force unsuccessfully searched for a crash site.
According to the release, in 1979 and 1980, search-and-recovery teams from the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii found the site and recovered remains later identified by scientists as those of 2nd Lt. Stanley Campbell and Cpl. Carl Drain, two of the passengers aboard Cunningham's plane. In October and November 2004, a POW/MIA recovery team excavated the site in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea, where they recovered more remains and the personal effects of the remaining airmen.
Among the items recovered were George Cunningham's dogtags, a crucifix, a picture of his girlfriend, Corinne, and a gold ring with his engraved initials. Corinne gave him the ring before he left for the war, a promise that they would marry when he returned.
Cunningham-Maudsley said that when her uncle was positively identified in June, the story was in many of the major New York newspapers. She said Corinne - now Corinne Blumer - read about it, and had her son call Frank Cunningham to see if it was true. Frank told her it was, and invited her to George's funeral. When Corinne was reunited with the Cunninghams the night before the ceremony, the ring was returned to her, Cunningham-Maudsley said.
"It's back where it belongs," said Frank, who turned 87 the day after the funeral.
Corinne sat with the family, flipping through black and white pictures and telling stories of the Cunninghams, and recalled Cunningham-Maudsley's late father, Vincent, as a boy. "She was always close to our family," Cunningham-Maudsley said. "When George went away, she stayed in touch with [George's sister] Alice and her father."
Even after George was reported missing in action by the Army Air Corps in 1944 and declared killed in action a year and a day later, Cunningham-Maudsley said, Corinne never gave up hope. "She waited nine years for him to come home," Geraldine said. "The Cunninghams encouraged her to move on."
Which Corinne eventually did, marrying and raising 7 children. She could not be reached for comment.
A connection with Dad
Vincent Cunningham, Geraldine's father, died at age 50 in 1979. Cunningham-Maudsley said that having the uncle she never knew returned home has brought her closer to Vincent. "It brought up a lot of memories, with Dad not here," she said. "So I sat and thought of what he told me about George. It brought me down memory lane."
Closure for a brother
For Frank Cunningham, the recovery of his younger brother brings closure -- and closeness. George is now buried at Long Island National Cemetery, along with brothers John and Vincent. All five Cunningham brothers served in the military. An adopted brother, Kenneth, lives out of state.
Now, Frank said, "If I want to go out there, I can visit my three brothers."
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