Was Biden's uncle eaten by cannibals in World War Two? Military records reveal what REALLY happened to Ambrose Finnegan as White House dodges questions on Joe's tall tale

The White House dodged questions Thursday after Joe Biden made the startling claim that his uncle was eaten by cannibals during World War II.  

Biden suggested his relative had met a grisly end at the hands of flesh-eating savages after his plane was shot down by the enemy over New Guinea.

The president made the assertion, apparently for the first time publicly, during a trip to his birthplace of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

In Scranton he visited a World War II memorial that bears the name of his maternal uncle, Ambrose J. Finnegan, who the Biden family referred to as 'Uncle Bosie'.

Biden described how Finnegan's plane was 'shot down' and implied that he was flying the aircraft.

According to the president his uncle 'got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals at the time...they never recovered his body.'

However, Pentagon records have emerged flatly contradicting the president's claims.

They show that the aircraft - an A-20 Havoc - suffered engine failure and was lost over the sea, rather than landing in a jungle amid cannibalistic tribes. 

The records also show that Finnegan was a passenger on a non-combat flight. He was listed on the manifest as a 'courier'.

It was the latest in a litany of stories Biden has told which have later been found to include factual errors or exaggerations. 

On board Air Force One on Thursday reporters repeatedly asked Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, to confirm the president's cannibal story, but she did not.

She joked that there was 'no cannibal tab' in her binder of information. 

Jean-Pierre went on to confirm that Biden's uncle 'died 'when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea' - rather than being eaten by cannibals.

On Thursday White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn't answer questions about the veracity of a story told by President Joe Biden (left) - that his late uncle Ambrose Finnegan (right) was eaten by cannibals during World War II 

President Joe Biden reaches to touch the name of his uncle Ambrose J. Finnegan, Jr., on a wall at a Scranton war memorial on Wednesday in Scranton. Biden said Finnegan's plane was 'shot down' despite military records saying the airplane suffered engine failure

White House press secretary Karine Jeanne-Pierre leaving the White House with Joe Biden shortly before telling reporters there was 'no cannibal tab' in her binder of information

Jean-Pierre said: 'Look, you saw the president. He was incredibly proud of his uncle's service in uniform. You saw him at the war memorial. It was incredibly emotional and important to him. 

'You saw him respond to all of you when asked about the moment yesterday, and his uncle, who lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea,' she continued. 

Jean-Pierre added that Biden highlighted his uncle's story to make the case for 'honoring our sacred commitment to equip those we send to war and to take care of them and their families when they come home.' 

'And as he reiterated that the last thing American veterans are are suckers or losers, and he wanted to make that clear,' she added - a dig at former President Donald Trump, Biden's 2024 general election opponent. 

Trump has strongly denied making such comments about American soldiers who died in World War II. 

When a reporter asked her again about the veracity of the cannibal claim Jean-Pierre responded, 'I mean, look, I don't have anything beyond about what I just laid out.'

'But it was a really proud moment for him. It was incredibly emotional,' she said.

U.S. President Joe Biden visits a war memorial in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 17, 2024

There are no images of Joe Biden's uncle's plane crashing. This photograph shows a Douglas A-20 Havoc medium bomber attack aircraft being shot down by anti-aircraft fire during an attack on the Imperial Japanese seaplane base and harbor installations at Sekar Bay on 22nd July 1944 at Kokas in Dutch New Guinea, Dutch East Indies.

Local people watching wounded U,S. and Australian soldiers being placed on a row of stretchers. Papua New Guinea, December 1942

'And I think we can't, we can't forget that moment. And we cannot also forget what it means to be a commander-in-chief, what it means to lift up our service members, what it means to make sure that we respect their service, and he made that [contrast] very clear as to what we saw from the former, former president,' Jean-Pierre said, going after Trump again. 

When another reporter asked her about the cannibal claims she wrapped up the media briefing as Air Force One was landing, having still not confirmed the president's story.

Pentagon records from that era say that Finnegan was on a 'courier' flight that suffered engine failure and ditched in the ocean off Papua New Guinea on May 14, 1944. 

The report by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said there was a crew of three and one passenger, and the plane departed Momote Airfield, Los Negros Island, for a courier flight to Nadzab Airfield, New Guinea.

The loss of Ambrose Finnegan is also detailed in a 'missing aircraft' report made on March 17, 1944 and kept at the National Archives.

Marked 'Secret' the War Department report shows he was not flying the plane and was a passenger.

Missing Air Crew Report number 48472D LT AMBROSE J. FINNEGAN

Missing Air Crew Report number 48472D LT AMBROSE J. FINNEGAN

Missing Air Crew Report number 48472D LT AMBROSE J. FINNEGAN

There were three 'crew' and one 'passenger' on board. Finnegan was listed as a 2nd Lieutenant who was a 'courier.'

The three-strong crew consisted of a pilot, gunner and engineer. The pilot was 1st Lieutenant Harold R. Prince. 

According to the report the weather was 'good' when the plane went down and there was 'nil' evidence to suggest whether or not those on board had survived. 

'For unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea, the report said.

'Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft's nose hit the water hard.

'Three men failed to emerge from the sinking wreck and were lost in the crash.

'One crew member survived and was rescued by a passing barge. An aerial search the next day found no trace of the missing aircraft or the lost crew members.'

It said Second Lieutenant Ambrose J. Finnegan was 'the passenger on this Havoc when it was lost.' 

The report went on: 'He has not been associated with any remains recovered from the area after the war and is still unaccounted for.'

There were also reports in the National Archives submitted by pilots who went looking for the missing plane.

A Douglas A-20 'Havoc' light bomber like the one Biden's uncle was on

S President Joe Biden with Pennsylvania, Mayor Paige Cognetti, visits the Veterans War Memorial in Scranton, Pennsylvania

President Joe Biden visits Zummo's Cafe with Scranton, Pennsylvania, Mayor Paige Cognetti

They reported 'searching the water all the way with nil obeservations' and that 'no sightings were made.' 

Pilots reported back that 'no trace was found of Lieutenant Prince's plane or the crew.' 

In Scranton Biden said that when D-Day occurred, 'the next day, all four of my mother's brothers volunteered to join the military. Three of them made it, one of them couldn't go.'  

'Ambrose Finnegan - we called him Uncle Bosie - he was shot down. He was in the Army Air Corps, before there was an Air Force, flew those single engine airplanes, reconnaissance flights over New Guinea,' the president continued.  

'He volunteered because someone couldn't make it.'

That led to him being shot down.

In a speech later on Wednesday Biden added: 'My Uncle Bosie, he was a hell of an athlete, they tell me, when he was a kid.

'And he became an Army Air Corps before the Air Force came along. He flew those single engine planes as reconnaissance over war zones.

'And he got shot down near Guinea and they never found the body because there used to be, there were a lot of cannibals for real, in that part of New Guinea.'

Speaking in Scranton, Biden went on: 'We had a tradition in my family my grandfather taught us.

'When you visit the graveside of a family member you say three Hail Marys. That was what I was doing (at the memorial).

'My Uncle Ambrose Finnegan - Uncle Bosie was a hell of a guy. I never met him.'

Biden said as he looked at the memorial he thought about Trump.

'What I was thinking about when I was standing there, when Trump refused to go up the memorial in Paris and he said they were bunch of suckers and losers,' he said.

'To me that is a such a disqualifying assertion made by a president. The guys who saved civilization in the 1940s suckers and losers.'