A World War II American Army pilot whose rescue by Pacific islanders led to a life of giving back as a builder of schools and teacher of children has died aged 94.

Fred Hargesheimer had been suffering from poor health and died in Lincoln, Nebraska, his son, Richard Hargesheimer, said.

Mr Hargesheimer was shot down by a Japanese fighter while on a mission over the Japanese-held island of New Britain in the south-west Pacific in June 1943.

He parachuted into the trackless jungle, where he barely survived for 31 days until he was found by local hunters. They took him to their coastal village and hid him from Japanese patrols for seven months.

He later returned to help the village build its first school. Mr Hargesheimer, a P-38 pilot with the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, was shot down on June 5, 1943. The local hunters who found him hid him from Japanese patrols, fed him and nursed him back to health from two illnesses. In February 1944, with the help of Australian commandos working behind Japanese lines, he was picked up by a US submarine off a New Britain beach.