HASTINGS, Mich. — A West Michigan man said his uncle played a huge role during World War II as a fighter pilot.
For more than 35 years, Jim Dibble of Gun Lake has been on a mission to learn more about his uncle and has had success. He even has fragments from a plane his uncle flew that was shot down in 1943.
“It's extraordinarily rewarding to find out about your relatives and what they were doing in World War II, or any war for that matter,” Jim said.
He's spent decades researching his uncle’s involvement in WWII.
It all began in 1986 when Jim visited the U.S. Airforce Museum in Dayton, Ohio. It was a picture he saw that prompted his decades-long journey of discovering more about his uncle, James Dibble.
“I always was fascinated with the airplane that he flew so I went to see the plane and on the wall was a picture of a P-38 in the North African area and with all the pilots and the men around it I said well what are the chances that he was there — he's in the picture," Jim said. "That was the catalyst for the next 38 years of trying to find out everything about my uncle."
Jim said his uncle was born in 1921 in Grand Rapids, attended a small schoolhouse in Hastings in 1930 and lived on a farm to survive The Great Depression.
He said the efforts he's made to bring his uncle’s history to life have brought him great joy.
“It just didn't seem like work; it didn't seem like a job," Jim said. "Actually, it was the primary focus of my life during those years. I worked and I did those things but finding out about my uncle and what he was doing was paramount. and the most important thing."
Jim was able to find the coordinates of his uncle’s plane crash site and found remnants of the plane, along with a shoe heel he believes is his uncle's — because he was buried with one shoe.
Jim is starting the "Project Find Mickey" to complete an excavation project in Italy.
“The GoFundMe ‘Project Find Mickey’ is set up to finance the excavation of the Tanagra River," Jim said. "You have to build a coffer dam, you have to get rid of the water then you have to be able to come in and excavate, then you need an engineering group."
Jim's brother, Ted, produced a trailer highlighting their uncle's ultimate sacrifice for his country.
He hopes his uncle’s story motivates others to find out more about their relatives.
Those interested in donating to his project can find the information here.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Watch 13 ON YOUR SIDE for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV and on your phone.