The Papua New Guinea prime minister pushed back on President Biden’s suggestion last week that his uncle was eaten by cannibals when his plane crashed near the island on May 14, 1944.
The U.S. president "appeared to imply his uncle was eaten by cannibals after his plane was shot down over PNG during WWII," Prime Minister James Marape's office said in a statement on Sunday.
"President Biden's remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labelled as such," Marape said. “World War II was not the doing of my people; however, they were needlessly dragged into a conflict that was not their doing."
With his country on the president's mind, Marape said it's time for the U.S. to get serious about "cleaning up these remains of WWII so the truth about missing servicemen like Ambrose Finnegan can be put to rest."
Biden made the comment about his maternal uncle, Ambrose Finnegan, last week, recounting how his plane was "shot down in New 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."
That is contrary to the account listed by the Pentagon’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, however.
“For unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea," the account said of the incident. "Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft’s nose hit the water hard."
Responding to questions about the president's story, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden "highlighted his uncle’s story as he made the case for honoring our sacred commitment to — to equip those we send to war and to take care of them and their families when they come home."
But a reporter pushed back, wondering why he had to embellish a story to get that point across.
"I mean, look, I — I don’t have anything beyond — but what I just laid out," she replied, confirming the military's account of what happened.
"His uncle ... lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off ... in New Guinea."