A's 1-5
The lead Vet described broken branch stubs on the trees which were blackened, he thought with age, and tree debris lying around.
The Lieutenant not remembering seeing the empennage is not unusual from what I have seen previously at two B-24 Liberator crash sites. The tail units on those had been ripped off as they went into the trees. The same might very well have happened at the Patrol A1 wrecksite and the tail unit was laying off the immediate site and not seen although from the hole above it seems it went in vertical (no teardrop hole).
Yes, "not one of ours" ....but there was a war going in and senses would not be keyed up to an 8 year old loss but some interest was shown by the visit of the two US Army Officers which as I say in the website most likely came from the 594th EB&SR at Jaquinot Bay.