Papa New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape recently expressed the offense he took to President Joe Biden’s comments, which suggested cannibals may have eaten his uncle during World War II. Marape stated that his country does not deserve to be labeled as cannibalistic.
On Monday, Marape released a statement voicing his disappointment toward Biden’s comments, which could lead people to believe Papa New Guinea is filled with cannibals. The president made the remarks during a speech to a steelworkers union in Pittsburg last week, where he seemingly implied that cannibals may have devoured his “Uncle Bosie,” 2nd Lt. Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr.
“President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” according to Marape’s statement. The prime minister added that the global conflict was not the will of his nation, which was “dragged” into the war. “World War II was not the doing of my people; however, they were needlessly dragged into a conflict that was not their doing.”
Marape illustrated that the aftermath of the Second World War continues to be seen throughout his country, where many citizens continue to live in fear of active bombs that remain in the country. Reportedly, human remains, tunnels, and military vehicle wrecks are scattered throughout the country.
“The remains of WWII lie scattered all over PNG, including the plane that carried President Biden’s uncle,” he continued. “Perhaps, given President Biden’s comments and the strong reaction from PNG and other parts of the world, it is time for the USA to find as many remains of World War II in PNG as possible, including those of servicemen who lost their lives like Ambrose Finnegan.”
Last week, during President Biden’s speech at the United Steelworkers headquarters, he recounted his uncle’s military service, where he operated a single-engine plane that collected reconnaissance information. Biden claimed Finnegan was gunned down in Papua New Guinea, and his body was never recovered, to which he called out the existence of cannibals in the country. “He flew single-engine planes, reconnaissance flights over New Guinea. He had volunteered because someone couldn’t make it. He got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals in New Guinea at the time,” Biden said. “They never recovered his body.”
The American Tribune reported on comments from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who attempted to explain the president’s comments. KJP said that Biden made the remarks in a moment where he was “incredibly proud” of his uncle.
“Okay, look, I’ll just and I think we shared this with some of you so I’m just gonna kind of repeat. 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, 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 in New Guinea,” KJP said. Watch Biden’s comments below:
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