Biden Makes Unsubstantiated Claim About Uncle’s WWII Death

(USNewsBreak.com) – President Joe Biden is making the rounds, visiting various cities and towns to speak about his agenda in hopes of winning the 2024 election. During one of the stops in Pittsburgh, he spoke before the United Steel Workers and took the time to compare his and former President Donald Trump’s outlook on the military. While speaking about his uncle, he made a claim that’s been making headlines.

Biden’s uncle, Second Lt. Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr., was among the fallen soldiers of World War II. He was flying over New Guinea when the plane he was on experienced engine failure and went down in the Pacific Ocean off its coast. Historians don’t know what caused the engine failure, but a survivor recounted that the “aircraft’s nose hit the water hard.” There were four men onboard, and only one crewman survived. The government never recovered the other three bodies, including Finnegan’s.

President Biden mischaracterizes the circumstances of his uncle's death during World War II as he lambasts former President Trump's comments about the military. https://t.co/D4yQzB75Jr

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 18, 2024

The president, speaking about the accident, said the area reputedly had “a lot of cannibals,” which was why the government never found his body. Military records indicated no such thing happened, only that Finnegan Jr. died on May 14, 1944 when his plane crashed into the ocean, and the service considered him missing in action (MIA) and “still unaccounted for.” NBC News accused Biden of “mischaracteriz[ing]” his uncle’s demise, while other outlets indicated that Biden’s claim contradicted military records.

During the speech, Biden mentioned his family’s experience in war, including that of his son Beau, who died in 2015 from a brain tumor, as a way to contrast his reverence for veterans with that of his opponent. He accused Trump of calling those who served our country “losers” and “suckers.” Some critics have accused the former president of avoiding drafts in his youth by claiming he had bone spurs.

Additionally, Biden misstated the day his uncle joined the military. He claimed Finnegan enlisted the day after D-Day. However, D-Day referred to the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Instead, records show his uncle enlisted several weeks after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The White House hasn’t addressed Biden’s flub about the so-called cannibalism but noted that he was very proud of his family’s service.