The Search for Fallen Heroes (2004)
In 2004 ProMare lead an expedition to Lake Garda, Italy to locate the remains of 24 US Servicemen lost in 1945, just days before WWII ended, when their amphibious truck overturned, drowning all hands aboard.
As Allied troops rushed north through Italy into southern Europe, this amphibious 2 ½ ton truck, one of the ubiquitous DUKWs, was lost on Lake Garda, 60 miles east of Milan. One of three such vans in the advance north, the DUKW was loaded with a field artillery piece and 24 infantry when it was launched from Torbole on the northeastern corner of the lake. Horribly overloaded, the vehicle was swamped taking both artillery and men to the bottom, 200 meters below. All of the servicemen who were aboard are still listed as missing in action.
We have employed state of the art sonar systems to search the lake bed but could not locate the DUKW. We plan to return to Lake Garda with an autonomous underwater vehicle and manned submersible to continue our search, in the near future.
The Lake Garda Project in the news
National Geographic published an article here.
The Daily Mail published an article here.
The U.S. Army published an article here.