US President Joe Biden insinuated that his uncle was eaten by cannibals in New Guinea during a recent state visit. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/ AFP
While on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh last week, United States (US) President Joe Biden made the shock claim that his uncle was in a war plane which was shot down over an area in Papua New Guinea (PNG) where cannibals lived.
Official war records however only indicate that Biden’s uncle was killed when a plane on which he was a passenger experienced engine failure and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
The records do not mention cannibalism or state that the plane was shot down.
Headlines about Biden’s “slip of the tongue” at a Pennsylvania war memorial last week went viral in the Pacific island country with Prime Minister James Marape saying the president’s comments may have been a “slip of the tongue, however my country does not deserve to be labeled as such.”
In a statement released on Sunday, Marape said Biden “appeared to imply his uncle was eaten by cannibals”.
The US president said in his war memorial speech that his Army Air Corps aviator uncle – Second Lt Ambrose J Finnegan Jr or “Uncle Bosie” – was shot down over Papua New Guinea’s main island during World War 2.
“They never found the body because there used to be – there were a lot of cannibals for real in that part of New Guinea,” Biden was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“The Melanesian group of people, who Papua New Guinea is part of, are a very proud people,” a lecturer in political science at the University of Papua New Guinea, Michael Kabuni, told the publication.
“And they would find this kind of categorisation very offensive. Not because someone says ‘oh there used to be cannibalism in PNG’. Yes, we know that, that’s a fact.
“But taking it out of context, and implying that your [uncle] jumps out of the plane and somehow we think it’s a good meal is unacceptable.”
Cannibalism was practised by some communities in the past in specific contexts, explained Kabuni.
This include eating a deceased relative out of respect, to prevent their body from decomposing. “
There was context. They wouldn’t just eat any white men that fell from the sky,” said Kabuni.
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US defence records showed Finnegan’s courier flight was actually “forced to ditch in the ocean” off the island’s coast “for unknown reasons”.
Finnegan’s aircraft hit the water hard and three crew members failed to emerge, while one survived and was rescued by a passing barge, the official Defence POW/MIA Accounting agency said on its website.
A search the next day found “no trace” of the missing crew, the agency said, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Finnegan died when he “crashed in the Pacific”, not over land.
Biden’s cannibalism quip comes on the back of a string of recent gaffes.
Critics – including his Republican rival Donald Trump, himself 77 – have questioned whether the 81-year-old is sharp enough to withstand another grueling term in office.
Biden has repeatedly asserted there are no problems with his memory or cognition.
Marape urged Biden and the White House to instead focus on clearing up the unexploded ordnance that still litters Papua New Guinea today.
“There are much, much… deeper values in our relationship than one statement, one word, one punchline,” the island nation’s leader said.
In a separate statement on Sunday evening, Marape said the people of Papua New Guinea “live with the fear” of being killed by bombs left over from World War 2.
“I urge President Biden to get the White House to look into cleaning up these remains of WWII so the truth about missing servicemen like Ambrose Finnegan can be put to rest.”
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