‘Lost for words’: Joe Biden’s tale about cannibals bemuses Papua New Guinea residents

Joe Biden suggested this week that cannibals ate his ‘Uncle Bosie’ after his plane was shot down during the second world war over New Guinea. Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Joe Biden’s suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during world war two has been met with a mixture of bemusement and criticism in the country.

Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt Ambrose J Finnegan Jr, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, describing how “Uncle Bosie” had flown single engine planes as reconnaissance flights during the war. Biden said he “got shot down in New Guinea”, adding “they never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea.”