“HONOR THE DEAD BY HELPING THE LIVING”
Today, the DPAA is focused on the research, investigation,
recovery, and identification
of the approximately 34,000 (out of approximately 83,000 missing DoD personnel)
believed to be recoverable, who were lost in conflicts
from World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
March 03, 2017
KHAMMOUANE, Laos --
With
1,614 service members missing in action from the Vietnam War, the Defense
POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) deploys hundreds of service members,
DoD civilians, and contractors all over the world in hopes of returning our
nation’s fallen heroes.
Recently a team of 59 personnel completed DPAA’s second Laos mission of fiscal
year 2017, covering the Central East region of Laos. From rice patties to
mountainsides,
the teams excavated thousands of square meters of land recovering important
evidence relating to missing servicemen lost during the war.
“I’m
very honored to have been part of this initiative to bring our missing home,”
said U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Walgenbach,
recovery non-commissioned officer. “This mission has been the most unique part
of my 13 year career in the military and I know others feel the same way.”
Every
team member plays an important role in mission success. Whether that is the
recovery non-commissioned officer setting up the sites,
or the recovery leader collecting scientific data, working together ensures
nothing is overlooked and the safety of the team remains number one priority.
Due
to the efforts of the teams, Laos representatives handed over possible remains
to the U.S. to be repatriated and welcomed back on American soil after 48 years.
Upon arrival the possible remains will be transported to DPAA’s laboratory for
examination and possible identification.
“During this mission I have worked along side some of the greatest men and women
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting,
and being chosen for the repatriation ceremony was a perfect way to end such a
great mission,” said U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Andrew Brod,
recovery non-commissioned officer. “It is truly an honor to be bringing closure
to the families of our fallen service members.”
The
hard work and continued dedication of these teams makes it possible for DPAA to
fulfill our nations promise and
provide fullest possible accounting for our missing service members to their
families and the nation.
U.S. Navy
Petty Officer 1st Class Ameil Fredeluces, edic, and U.S. Marine Corps. Staff
Sgt. Eddie Ludwig, explosive ordinance disposal technician,
remove dirt from units during excavation operations as part of the Defense
POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s mission in the Khammouane Province, Laos,
January 29, 2017. Recovery Team Three executed excavation operations in
search of two missing U.S. Air Force pilots who crashed while on a visual
reconnaissance mission during the Vietnam War over 48 years ago. DPAA’s mission
is to provide the fullest possible accounting
for our missing personnel to their families and the nation.
Members of
the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency dig units during excavation operations as
part of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s
mission in the Khammouane Province, Laos, January 26, 2017. Recovery Team Three
executed excavation operations in search of two missing
U.S. Air Force pilots who crashed while on a visual reconnaissance mission
during the Vietnam War over 48 years ago. DPAA’s mission is to provide the
fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the
nation.
Jack Kenkeo,
life support investigator, shovels dirt from the screening stations during
excavation operations as part of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s
mission in the Khammouane Province, Laos, January 23, 2017. Recovery Team Three
executed excavation operations in search of two missing U.S. Air Force pilots
who crashed while on a visual reconnaissance mission during the Vietnam War over
48 years ago.
DPAA’s mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing
personnel to their families and the nation.
U.S. Army
Staff Sgt. Francis Sangiamvongse, linguist, screens soil with local villagers
during excavation operations as part of the Defense POW/MIA
Accounting Agency’s mission in the Khammouane Province, Laos, January 29, 2017.
Recovery Team Three executed excavation operations in search
of two missing U.S. Air Force pilots who crashed while on a visual
reconnaissance mission during the Vietnam War over 48 years ago.
DPAA’s mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing
personnel to their families and the nation.
Lynn Rakos,
scientific recovery expert, waters hard soil to help with excavation operations
as part of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s mission
in the Khammovan Province, Laos, January 23, 2017. Recovery Team three executed
excavation operations in search of two missing U.S. Air Force pilots
who crashed while on a visual reconnaissance mission during the Vietnam War over
48 years ago.
DPAA’s mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing
personnel to their families and the nation.
In March of
2017, Making the effort to thank the troops for what they do out in the field
means everything.
With a DPAA recovery team in Quang Nam Province, two hours west of Da Nang,
Vietnam.
The UW-Madison
story involved
a group of six students and staff members who were part of a team that unearthed
a World War II U.S. fighter aircraft—
and possibly remains of its pilot—in the ground under a farm field in France
this summer.
The team used ground-penetrating radar and a photo taken by a
British reconnaissance plane two days after the May, 1944
crash of the P-47 Thunderbolt flown by 1st Lt. Frank Fazekas.
Search underway for Lakewood, Ohio airman of World War II
Search underway for Lakewood, Ohio airman of World War II.
Divers of the U.S. Defense
POW/MIA
Accounting Agency and Civil Defense of Grado, Italy,
prepare for an exploratory dive on the sunken B-24 bomber.
This B-24 Liberator is the same type of airplane that
Lakewood, Ohio airman Thomas McGraw was flying in when it was shot down and
crashed off the coast of Italy during World War II.
A Missing Air Crew Report details the last flight of the B-24 and nose gunner
Thomas McGraw of Lakewood, Ohio.
B-24 located in Adriatic; Crewmanis bones sought Ught Lakewood Manis remains
crewman Omber crew,am2-2k-28 bold Header from A1.
A skull fragment was recovered at the site of a wrecked B-24 bomber
off the coast of Italy that may contain the remains of
Thomas McGraw,
of Lakewood, Ohio.
An underwater view of the crash site of a B-24 off Grado, Italy.
FINDING ENSIGN HAROLD P. DeMOSS IN THE MUCK AND MIRE
“Seeing
those photos was so overwhelming that I cried like a baby”
said DeMoss’ niece, Judy Ivey. “To see this actually taking place
is not anything I ever really expected.”
Anine-person military team
has been digging up mud four days a week
in the Koolau range in search of a missing World War II pilot whose
fighter crashed in cloud cover during a night training flight.
A bucket-and-pulley system
was set up to move excavated
material to a spot where it can be bundled in tarps for
helicopter transport to Wheeler Army Airfield.
NOTE: The Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery said in a 1948 letter
to the family that “an attempt to recover the remains was
considered impracticable” because the site was 7 miles
from a traveled highway in the mountains.
On Feb. 25, 1944, Duran wasn’t supposed to be on the doomed B-24H
Liberator, nicknamed “Knock it Off.”
Normally a nose turret gunner, Duran was the substitute tail turret gunner on
the flight, replacing the usual tail gunner who had frostbite.
The earth by the headstone next to the church in this tiny mountain village was full of rocks.
Two days of digging under a hot sun had yielded buckets of
gravel, stones the size of men’s fists and many piles of dirt – but no bones.
After 73 years, Sgt. Alfonso O. Duran was still missing.
The family feels a sense of closure regardless of the outcome,
Duran said.
“What a difference it would have made to my father and to my aunt,”
she said, “to know he had died and somebody had buried him and tended the
grave.”
USS Arizona was
a Pennsylvania-class battleship built
for and by the United
States Navy in
the mid-1910s. Named in honor of the 48th
state's
recent admission into the union, the ship was the second and last of the Pennsylvania class
of "super-dreadnought"
battleships. Although commissioned in
1916, the ship remained stateside during World
War I.
Shortly after the end of the war, Arizona was
one of a number of American ships that briefly escorted President Woodrow
Wilson to
the Paris
Peace Conference.
The ship was sent to Turkey in 1919 at the beginning of the Greco-Turkish
War to
represent American interests for several months. Several years later, she was
transferred to the Pacific
Fleet and
remained there for the rest of her career.
Aside from a comprehensive modernization in 1929–31, Arizona was
regularly used for training exercises between the wars, including the annual Fleet
Problems
(training exercises). When an earthquake struck
Long Beach, California,
in 1933, Arizona's
crew provided aid to the survivors. Two years later, the ship was featured in a Jimmy
Cagney film, Here
Comes the Navy,
about the romantic troubles of a sailor. In April 1940, she and the rest of the
Pacific Fleet were transferred from California to Pearl
Harbor,
Hawaii, as a deterrent to Japanese
imperialism.
During the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor on
7 December 1941, Arizona was
bombed. After a bomb detonated in a powder magazine, the battleship exploded
violently and sank, killing 1,177 officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other
ships sunk or damaged that day, Arizona was
irreparably damaged by the force of the magazine explosion, though the Navy
removed parts of the ship for reuse. The wreck still
lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial,
dedicated on 30 May 1962 to all those who died during the attack, straddles the
ship's hull.
The USS Oklahoma was on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. That was the morning that the Japanese Empire attacked the United States by surprise.
The Japanese
used dive–bombers, fighter–bombers, and torpedo planes to sink nine ships,
including five battleships, and severely damage 21 ships.
There were 2,402 US deaths from the attack. 1,177 of
those deaths were from the USS Arizona,
while 429 of the deaths were from the USS Oklahoma.
The crew of the USS Oklahoma did everything they could to fight back. In the first ten minutes of the battle, though, eight torpedoes hit the Oklahoma, and she began to capsize. A ninth torpedo would hit her as she sunk in the mud. 14 Marines, and 415 sailors would give their lives. 32 men were cut out through the hull while the others were beneath the waterline. Banging could be heard for over 3 days and then there was silence.
After the battle, the Navy decided that they could not salvage the Oklahoma due to how much damage she had received. The difficult savage job began in March 1943, and Oklahoma entered dry dock 28 December. Decommissioning September 1, 1944, Oklahoma was stripped of guns and superstructure, and sold December 5, 1946 to Moore Drydock Co., Oakland, Calif. Oklahoma parted her tow line and sank May 17, 1947. 540 miles out, bound from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco. Today, there is a memorial to the USS Oklahoma and the 429 sailors and marines lost on December 7, 1941, located on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Ford Island
is seen in this aerial view during the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor December
7, 1941 in Hawaii.
(The photo was taken from a Japanese plane.)
Remember
the fallen: In all, 429 people on board the
battleship were killed in the attack.
Only 35 were identified in the years immediately after.
Battleship
USS Oklahoma unturned hull at the bottom of Pearl Harbor
after the devastating Japanese bombing attack on Dec. 7, 1941.
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following
WWII
from MICHIGAN - 2470
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following
Korea
from MICHIGAN - 341
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following
Cold War
from MICHIGAN - 4
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following
Viet Nam
from MICHIGAN - 48
RECENTLY
FOUND
HEROES in 2018
October 17
Army Pfc. Leslie E. Shankles, 33, of
Arcadia, Kansas, accounted for, will be buried October 24 in Fort
Scott, Kansas. In October 1944, Shankles was a member of Company C, 1st
Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. He was killed Oct. 14,
1944 by enemy fire in the Raffelsbrand sector of the Hürtgen Forest, near
Germeter, Germany.
In 1947, a local German resident discovered remains in the
Raffelsbrand section of the Hürtgen Forest. The remains could not be identified,
and were buried as Unknown X-5391 in Neuville Cemetery, now Ardennes American
Cemetery, in Belgium.
Following thorough research and analysis of American Soldiers
missing from Europe, DPAA historians concluded that there was a strong
association between Neuville Unknown X-5391 and Shankles. DPAA disinterred
X-5391 in June 2017 and accessioned the remains to the DPAA laboratory.
To identify Shankles’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used Y-chromosome (Y-STR) DNA analysis,
anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
October 17
Navy Buglemaster 2nd Class Lionel W. Lescault,
of Worcester Ma. was
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was
accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Lescault was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Lescault.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Lescault's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
October 17
Navy Seaman 1st Class John A. Karli,
Pasadena, CA was
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was
accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Karli was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Karli.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Karli's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Sailor
Naval Reserve Lt. Richard C. Lannom, 27,
Union City, Tn was killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for.
On March 1, 1968, Lannom, a flight officer assigned to Attack
Squadron Three Five (ATKRON 35), USS Enterprise (CVA-65), was the
bombardier/navigator aboard an A-6A aircraft on a night strike mission over
Quang Ninh Province, North Vietnam. Radar contact with the aircraft was lost due
to the low altitude of the aircraft, and the pilot had been instructed to turn
his identification beeper off. The flight path to the target was over islands
known to have light anti-aircraft artillery. When the aircraft failed to
rendezvous with the carrier, a search and rescue effort was mounted. No evidence
of the plane could be found. Lannom and his pilot were subsequently declared
missing in action.
DPAA is grateful to the government and people of Vietnam for
their partnership in this mission.
Lannom’s name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans
Memorial in Washington, DC, and the Courts of the Missing at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with others who are
unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. A rosette will be placed next to his name
to indicate he has been accounted for.
U.S. Civilian
Mr. George L. Ritter,
On Dec. 27, 1971, Ritter,
an
employee of Air America Incorporated, was piloting an Air America C-123K from
Udorn Airfield, Kingdom of Thailand, headed for Xienhom District, Xaingnabouli
Province, Laos. The aircraft was on a routine resupply mission for U.S. Agency
for International Development and was last heard from when they were northeast
of Sayaboury. Laos. Search and rescue efforts were continued through Dec. 31,
1971, but no sign of the aircraft or the four crewmembers were found. Ritter was
subsequently reported missing.
On 27 December 1971, Captain George Ritter, pilot; Captain Roy F. Townley, co-pilot; Edward Weissenback, kicker; and Khamphanh Saysongkham, kicker; comprised the crew of an Air America C123K (tail #6293), Flight #293. In the early morning the crew of three Americans and one Lao national departed Vientiane, Laos and flew to Udorn Airbase, Thailand to obtain their cargo of rice and other supplies that was bound for Royal Lao Army troops stationed at the village of Ban Xieng Lom, Luang Prabang Province, Laos. Once the cargo was loaded onboard the Provider, Capt. Ritter took off from Udorn on the resupply mission.
In October 1972, another intelligence report, IR 2 237 0095 72, stated, "Source allegedly observed the crash of an aircraft with the tail #293 in the vicinity of Muong Sai airfield (RC123893) in December 1971. According to the source, three Americans and one Lao who had been aboard the aircraft were captured and later taken to a detention facility in the vicinity of UG425730. Source further stated that the Americans were taken out of the detention facility in June 1972 and transferred to North Vietnam."
In August 1973 a defector, who was a Pathet Lao General, provided information regarding American POWs he had personal knowledge about. The General was shown pictures of American POW/MIAs in an effort to identify those Americans he saw in captivity. He positively identified photos of Roy Townley and Edward Weissenback as being two of the prisoners he had seen. He was not able to provide information about George Ritter and Khamphanh Saysongkham.
Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.
American civilian aircrews, like their military counterparts in Vietnam and Laos, were called upon to fly in many dangerous circumstances, and they were prepared to be wounded, killed or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly served.
October 15
Army Pvt. John B. Cummings, 22, of
Hartford, Wisconsin, accounted for on July 12, 2018, was buried
October 13 in Hazelhurst, Wisconsin. In December 1944, Cummings was a member of
Company A, 276th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division, along the France and
Germany border to reinforce the Alsace area. On Dec. 31, 1944, German troops
crossed the Rhine River into France. As darkness fell, two member of Cummings’
company passed him as he sat in a foxhole near the riverbank. Sometime later,
U.S. troops heard German machine gun fire and maneuvered their way back to
Cummings’ foxhole. The troops were unable to find Cummings, but they did find a
helmet with a bullet hole. Despite extensive recovery efforts, Cummings’ remains
were unable to be located.
Following the close of hostilities, the American Graves
Registration Command (AGRC) searched for and disinterred the remains of U.S.
service members who were killed in battle. In 1946, investigators met with the
mayor of Iffezheim, Germany, who informed them that the remains of an American
Soldier were buried in his community near the bank of the Rhine River. The mayor
directed the American investigator to a local German veteran who had been
present at the burial. A wooden cross indicated the remains belonged to an
American serviceman, who died on Dec. 31, 1944. The remains were disinterred and
transferred to the American Military Cemetery and identification processing
center at St. Avold France, where they were labeled as Unknown X-6454.
The remains, unable to be identified, were interred in the
American cemetery at St. Avold, present day Lorraine American Cemetery, in
France.
Following thorough research and analysis of American Soldiers
missing from Europe, DPAA historians concluded that there was a strong
association between Unknown X-6454 and Cummings. DPAA disinterred X-6454 in
October 2016 and accessioned the remains to the DPAA laboratory.
To identify Cummings’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and autosomal (auSTR)
DNA analysis, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material
evidence.
Army Pfc. Kenneth B. Williams, 38, of Akron, Ohio, accounted for, will be buried October 22 in Seville, Ohio. In late November 1950, Williams was a member of Heavy Mortar Company, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Approximately 2,500 U.S. and 700 South Korean soldiers assembled into the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), which was deployed east of the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, when it was attacked by overwhelming numbers of Chinese forces. As the Chinese attacks continued, American forces withdrew south. By December 6, the U.S. Army evacuated approximately 1,500 service members; the remaining soldiers had been either captured, killed or missing in enemy territory.
Williams was reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, after he
was last seen near the Chosin Reservoir.
Williams’ name did not appear on any prisoner of war lists,
however returning Americans reported Williams died as a
prisoner of war. Based on this information, he was declared deceased as of Jan.
31, 1951.
On Nov. 30, 1993, North Korea turned over 33 boxes, believed to
hold the remains of unaccounted-for U.S. servicemen from the Korean War. The
reported recovery location of one of the boxes was in Kaljoh-ri, Changjin
County, South Hamyong Province, North Korea, near where Williams was last seen.
To identify Williams’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
October 12
Navy Fireman 2nd Class George C. Ford.
25, of Lidderdale, Iowa, accounted for on April 30, 2018, will be
buried October 20 in Glidden, Iowa. On Dec. 7, 1941, Ford was assigned to the
battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the
ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple
torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship
resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Ford.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Ford.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for identification.
To identify Ford’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
DNA analysis, dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial
evidence.
Army Pfc. Fred W. Ashley, 22, of Emmett,
Idaho, accounted for, will be buried October 20 in
his hometown. In May 1945, Ashley was a member of Troop C, 2nd Cavalry
Reconnaissance Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Group, on a reconnaissance in the town of Paseka, in the former Czechoslovakia. On 4 May, as many as three hundred German
soldiers attacked Ashley’s platoon. He was mortally wounded and was last seen
being taken away by German troops. Ashley’s unit reported him missing in action
as of May 4, 1945. Following the war, when Ashley was not among the American
prisoners liberated from German captivity, the War Department amended his status
to killed in action. His remains were not recovered following the battle.
In September 1991, Ashley’s sister contacted U.S. Army Mortuary
Affairs, regarding the location of her brother’s remains. She reported that
shortly after the war, the family received a letter from the U.S. Army stating
that local civilians had discovered Ashley’s gravesite. The chief of Mortuary
Affairs and Casualty Support Division responded that remains recovered from an
isolated grave in Gutwasser, Czechoslovakia were originally believed to be
Ashley, however subsequent examination revealed the remains, designated X-239
St. Avold, were not Ashley.
Following thorough research and analysis, DPAA recommended the
disinterment of X-239 St. Avold. The remains were exhumed and transferred to
DPAA’s laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
In April 2018, X-239 St. Avold was identified as Flight Officer
Richard Lane W. Lane, who had been identified in 1946 and buried with full
military honors in Gage County, Nebraska.
On June 14, 2018, the remains that had been previously
misidentified as Lane were disinterred from Filley Cemetery in Nebraska and
accessioned into the DPAA laboratory at Offutt.
To identify Ashley’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence.
Army Lt. Col. Robert G. Nopp, 31, of
Salem, Oregon, accounted for , will be buried October 18 in Arlington
National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. On July 13, 1966 Nopp was assigned to
the 131st Aviation Company, serving as a pilot aboard an OV-1C aircraft, on a
night surveillance mission from Phu Bai Airfield over Attapu Province, Laos
People’s Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.). Visibility was poor due to heavy
thunderstorms. Radar and radio contact were lost with the aircraft, which was
not uncommon due to the mountainous terrain in that part of Laos. When the
aircraft did not return as scheduled, search efforts were initiated, but no
crash site was found. Also lost in the crash was Army Staff Sgt. Marshall F.
Kipina, 21, of Calumet, Michigan, the aircraft’s observer.
During the 1990s and 2000s, joint U.S./L.P.D.R. teams
investigated the incident and recommended a potential crash site in Attapu
Province, L.P.D.R. for excavation. The site, located in extremely difficult
terrain, required multiple missions to excavate. The teams recovered osseous
material, personal equipment and material evidence. Analysis of the aircraft
indicated the crash was of the same aircraft Nopp was flying, and an ejection
seat component indicated at least one person was in the aircraft when it
crashed. Kipina was identified corrently with Nopp.
To identify Nopp’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), as well as
anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.
Army Cpl. James I. Jubb, 21, of
Eastport, Maryland, accounted for, will be buried
October 17 in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. In August 1950, Jubb was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th
Infantry Division, his unit suffered heavy losses while fighting units of the
North Korean People’s Army in the vicinity of the Naktong River, South Korea.
Jubb was reported missing in action on Aug. 10, 1950 when he could not be
accounted for by his unit. His remains were later declared unrecoverable.
In October 1951, the Army Graves Registration Services recovered
four sets of unidentified American remains from a mountain near Ohang, South
Korea, which is located east of the Naktong River. One set of remains,
designated “Unknown X-2160” could not be identified and were subsequently
interred at the National Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu.
In 2017, based on research regarding two individuals who remained
unaccounted-for from Jubb’s unit, analysts from DPAA determined that Unknown
X-2160 could likely be identified. DPAA disinterred Unknown X-2160 in October
2017 and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis.
To identify Jubb’s remains, scientists used dental and
anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison, which matched
his records.
DPAA is appreciative to the Department of Veterans Affairs for
their partnership in this mission.
Soldier
Army Staff Sgt. Marshall F. Kipina, 21,
of Calumet, Michigan, accounted for , will be buried October 18 in
Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. On July 13, 1966 Kipina was
assigned to the 131st Aviation Company, serving as an observer aboard an OV-1C
aircraft, on a night surveillance mission from Phu Bai Airfield over Attapu
Province, Laos People’s Democratic Republic (L.P.D.R.). Visibility was poor due
to heavy thunderstorms. Radar and radio contact were lost with the aircraft,
which was not uncommon due to the mountainous terrain in that part of Laos. When
the aircraft did not return as scheduled, search efforts were initiated, but no
crash site was found. Also lost in the crash was Army Lt. Col. Robert G. Nopp,
31, of Salem, Oregon, the aircraft’s pilot.
During the 1990s and 2000s, joint U.S./L.P.D.R. teams
investigated the incident and recommended a potential crash site in Attapu
Province, L.P.D.R. for excavation. The site, located in extremely difficult
terrain, required multiple missions to excavate. The teams recovered osseous
material, personal equipment and material evidence. Analysis of the aircraft
indicated the crash was of the same aircraft Kipina was in, and an ejection seat
component indicated at least one person was in the aircraft when it crashed.
Nopp was identified concurrently with Kipina.
To identify Kipina’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), as well as
anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.
October 12
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Charles C. Gomez,
Jr., 18,
Tammany Parish, Louisiana
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Gomez was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Gomez.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Austin's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Marine Corps Pfc. Michael L. Salerno,
Philadelphia Pa. killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In November 1943, Salerno was a member of Company K, 3rd
Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, which
landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the
Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over
several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and
Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were
virtually annihilated. Salerno died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20,
1943.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Salerno’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Army Pvt. Delbert J. Holliday, 22, of
Minneapolis, accounted for, will be buried October
15 in Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minnesota. In November 1950, Holliday was
a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 7th Cavalry
Division, participating in combat actions against the Chinese People’s Volunteer
Forces (CPVF) in the vicinity of South Pyongan Province, North Korea. Holliday
was killed in action on Nov. 30, 1950 and was reportedly buried in the United
Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) Pyongyang. As the United Nations’ situation
with North Korea worsened, circumstances forced the closure of UNMC Pyongyang on
Dec. 3, 1950, and buried remains could not be recovered.
Following the war, during an operation known as “Operation
Glory,” UN forces returned approximately 14,000 sets of remains to the Chinese
and North Koreans, and received more than 4,000 sets of remains from isolated
burials, prisoner of war camp cemeteries and temporary UN cemeteries, including
UNMC Pyongyang. The received remains were turned over to the Central
Identification Unit in Kokura, Japan.
None of the returned remains could be associated with Holliday’s,
and all unidentified remains, including a set designated “X-16970 OPGLORY” were
interred as Korean War unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
On April 19, 2018, DPAA disinterred “X-16970 OPGLORY” from the
Punchbowl and sent the remains to the laboratory for identification.
To identify Holliday’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental,
anthropological, and chest radiograph comparison analysis which; as well as
circumstantial evidence.
October 9
Navy Chief Warrant Officer John A. Austin, 36,
Jefferson County, Alabama
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II,
was accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Austin was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Austin.
On the morning of 7 December 1941, Chief Carpenter Austin was on
Oklahoma. When the battleship capsized as a result of Japanese bombs and
torpedoes, he was trapped below water with many of his shipmates. Austin
searched for a means of escape and found a porthole which, though beneath the
surface, offered just such an avenue. As a result of his efforts, 15 sailors
escaped a watery grave. Chief Carpenter Austin, however, did not. As his
citation reads, "He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country."
Chief Carpenter Austin was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Austin's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
October 9
Navy Fireman 1st Class Creighton H. Workman,
22, Iowa, USA
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II,
was accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Workman was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Workman.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Workman's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from World War II, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Marine Corps Reserve 2nd Lt. Elwood R.
Bailey, 22, of Parma, Michigan, accounted for, will be
buried October 13 in his hometown. On August 24, 1942, Bailey was a member of
Marine Fighting Squadron 223 (VMF-223), Marine Aircraft Group 23, (MAG-23).
Bailey was piloting a F4F-4 Wildcat in aerial combat with Japanese Military Air
Forces over Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, when he was reported missing in action
after being shot down.
In October 1948, a Board of Review declared Bailey’s remains to
be non-recoverable.
In April 2015, Clay Chualu, a resident of the Solomon Islands,
turned over human remains and material evidence to DPAA. The remains had been
reportedly recovered from a crash site of an F4F-4 aircraft located southwest of
Mbarana Village. The remains were subsequently sent to DPAA for analysis.
To identify Bailey’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental
and anthropological analysis, which matched his records; as well as historical
and material evidence.
October 4
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from World War II, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Bernard V. Doyle,
19, of Red Cloud, Nebraska, accounted for, will be
buried October 13 in Lake City, Iowa. On Dec. 7, 1941, Doyle was assigned to the
battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the
ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple
torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship
resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Doyle.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Doyle.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for identification.
To identify Doyle’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which
matched his family, anthropological and dental analysis, which matched his
records, along with circumstantial evidence.
Marine
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from World War II, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Marine Corps Reserve Tech. Sgt. Harry A.
Carlsen, 31, of Brookfield, Illinois, accounted for,
will be buried October 13, in Elwood, Illinois. In November 1943, Carlsen was
assigned to Company A, 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division,
Fleet Marine Force, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small
island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to
secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa,
approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were
wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated.
Carlsen died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943, during the first
waves of the assault.
The battle of Tarawa was a significant victory for the U.S.
military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a
platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to
advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S.
service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield
cemeteries on the island. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company
conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but
Carlsen’s remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were
sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for
identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were
interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu.
In 2013, DPAA received a unilateral turnover from History Flight,
Inc., a nongovernmental organization, of remains recovered from Cemetery #33 on
Betio Island.
On Feb. 27, 2017, DPAA disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-082 from the
NMCP and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. The remains were
consolidated with remains turned over in 2013 from History Flight, Inc.
To identify Carlsen’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental,
anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
Pilot
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from the Vietnam War, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Navy Reserve Cmdr. Charles B. Goodwin,
25, of Haskell, Texas, accounted for, will be buried
October 12 in Abilene, Texas. On Sept. 8, 1965, Goodwin was the pilot of an
RF-8A aircraft, assigned to Detachment D, VPF-63, CVW-15, when he launched from
the USS Coral Sea, scheduled for a combat photo mission over the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (now Socialist Republic of Vietnam.) At the time of the
early-morning flight, numerous intense thunderstorms were reported between the
USS Coral Sea and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Fifteen minutes after
launching, Goodwin reported that he had encountered thunderstorms en route to
the target area. That was the last transmission heard from him. Search efforts
over the target area and adjacent coastal waters were unsuccessful, no emergency
radio signals were heard, and no aircraft wreckage was sighted. Goodwin was
declared missing in action as of Sept. 8, 1965.
In February 1988, a Vietnamese refugee provided information
regarding the location of possible human remain and material evidence, including
identification media correlated to Goodwin.
Between April 1993 and December 2016, multiple attempts were made
by the Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) and Joint
U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams to locate the crash site, but
attempts were unsuccessful. In December 2016, a Joint Forensic Review team
received possible human remains that had been in the possession of a Vietnamese
national. The remains were sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
In the identification of Goodwin, scientists from DPAA used
dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records, as well as
circumstantial evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, recently accounted-for from World War II, are
being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Sgt. Melvin C. Anderson, 31, of
Omaha, Nebraska, accounted for, will be buried
October 12 in his hometown. In November 1944, Anderson was a member of Company
C, 803rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, participating in intense fighting in the Hürtgen Forest. His company was deployed as direct fire support for American
infantrymen attacking the town of Grosshau. Two tank destroyers and six tanks,
including the M10 tank destroyer Anderson was the tank commander on, were
knocked out in the fighting around Grosshau on Nov. 25, 1944. He was killed
during the battle, though his status was initially listed as missing in action.
On Dec. 21, 1944, his status was amended to killed in action.
In 1947, an American investigation team found remains inside the
remnants of an America tank destroyer near Grosshau. The remains were later
designated X-6852 Neuville. Due to the condition of the remains, they were
declared unidentifiable and were interred at United States Military Cemetery
Draguignan, France, today’s Rhone American Cemetery.
After thorough research and historical analysis, historians from
DPAA determined Anderson was a strong candidate for association to the remains.
In June 2017, X-6852 Neuville was disinterred and sent to DPAA.
To identify Anderson’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis,
and circumstantial evidence.
October 4
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from World War II are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Navy Seaman 1st Class Natale I. Torti,
19, of St. Louis, Missouri, accounted for, will be
buried October 12 in Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. On Dec. 7, 1941, Torti was
assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl
Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma
sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack
on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Torti.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Torti.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for identification.
To identify Torti’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
DNA analysis, dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial
evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, recently accounted-for from World War II, are
being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Marine Corps Pfc. William F. Cavin, 19,
of Ewing, Virginia, accounted for, will be buried
October 13, in Hancock County, Tennessee. In November 1943, Cavin was assigned
to Company F, 2nd Battalion. 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet
Marine Force, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island
of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the
island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000
Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the
Japanese were virtually annihilated. Cavin died on the
first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943.
The battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military
because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from
which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their
Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S.
service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield
cemeteries on the island. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company
conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but
Cavin’s remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were
sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for
identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were
interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the
Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2013, DPAA received a unilateral turnover of remains,
recovered by History Flight, Inc., a third-party organization, reportedly to
have been found in Cemetery #33 on Betio Island.
On March 13, 2017, DPAA disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-032 from the
Punchbowl and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. X-032 was
consolidated with remains recovered by History Flight, Inc.
To identify Cavin’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental,
anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
October 4
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, recently accounted for from World War II are
being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Navy Seaman 2nd Class William V.
Campbell, 20, of Elizabethton, Tennessee, accounted for, will be buried October 10 in his hometown. On Dec. 7, 1941, Campbell was
assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl
Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma
sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack
on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Campbell.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Campbell.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for identification.
To identify Campbell’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome
(Y-STR) DNA analysis, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial
evidence.
Airman
Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. James R. Lord,
killed during World War II, was accounted for.
On Aug. 10, 1944, Lord, a member of the 66th Fighter Squadron,
57th Fighter Group, 12th Tactical Air Command, 12th Air Force, was piloting a
P-47D aircraft, targeting gun positions in the Savona area of northwest Italy,
near the French border. During the mission, Lord misjudged his altitude and
crashed into the water, a mile off the coast of Anghione, Corsica. No witnesses
reported seeing any parachute sightings.
DPAA is grateful to Mr. Franck Allegrini-Semollini and Mr.
Marc-Francois Casanova of AMIS 57th Bomb Wing Group, Mr. Philippe Castellano,
Mr. Stephan le Gallais, the French Ministry of Culture (DRASSM), the French
Navy, the Sainte Anne Army Instructional Hospital of Toulon, the U.S. Army
Mortuary Affairs Activity Europe/Africa, and the U.S. Consulate General
Marseille for their partnerships in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Lord’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in
Impruneta, Italy, along with the others missing from WWII. A rosette will be
placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
October 3
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Harold L. Head,
20, of Browning, Missouri, accounted for, will be
buried October 10, in Laclede, Missouri. On Dec. 7, 1941, Head was assigned to
the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship
was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo
hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Head.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Head.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
NMCP for analysis.
To identify Head’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Allen R. Turner
, killed during World War II, was accounted for.
On July 17, 1945, Turner, a member of the 1330 Army Air Force
Base Unit, Air Transport Command, was the pilot of a C-109 aircraft, en route
from Jorhat, India, to Hsinching, China, over “The Hump,” when the aircraft
crashed in a remote area.
All four passengers were declared deceased after an extensive search effort
failed to identify the crash site.
One set of remains was identified on Feb. 9, 2016 as the
co-pilot, 1st Lt. Frederick W. Langhorst, 24, of Yonkers, New York. Langhorst
was buried Nov. 26, 2016 in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Another set of remains was identified Sept. 24, 2018 as Army Air Forces Pfc.
Joseph I. Natvik.
DPAA is grateful to Clayton Kuhles and the government of India
for their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Turner's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Manila American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Taguig
City, Philippines, along with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will be placed
next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Army Sgt. 1st Class James L. Boyce, from
Allegheny County,
Pennsylvania was killed during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In July 1950, Boyce was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion,
21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, engaged in combat operations
against the North Korean People’s Army south of Chonui, South Korea. Boyce could
not be accounted-for and was declared missing in action on July 11, 1950.
DPAA is grateful to Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Boyce’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who
are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to
indicate he has been accounted for.
Army Air Forces Pfc. Joseph I. Natvik,
20, of Dane County, Wisconsin.
killed during World War II, was accounted for.
On July 17, 1945, Natvick, a member of the 1330 Army Air Force
Base Unit, Air Transport Command, was the engineer on board a C-109 aircraft, en
route from Jorhat, India, to Hsinching, China, over “The Hump,” when the
aircraft crashed in a remote area. All four passengers were declared deceased
after an extensive search effort failed to locate the crash site.
One set of remains was identified on Feb. 9, 2016 as the
co-pilot, 1st Lt. Frederick W. Langhorst, 24, of Yonkers, New York. Langhorst
was buried Nov. 26, 2016 in Battle Creek, Michigan. Another set of remains was
identified Sept. 24, 2018 as Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Allen R. Turner.
DPAA is grateful to Clayton Kuhles and the government of India
for their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Natvik’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Manila American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Taguig
City, Philippines, along with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will be placed
next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
October 2
Navy Seaman 1st Class Herbert J. Poindexter,
24, Jacksonville FL
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II,
was accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Poindexter was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Poindexter.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Poindexter's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
October 1
Navy Water Tender 1st Class Stephen
Pepe, 43, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, accounted for, will be buried October 8 in Bourne, Massachusetts. On Dec. 7, 1941, Pepe
was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island,
Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma
sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack
on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Pepe.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Pepe.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
¬
To identify Pepe’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis,
anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence.
Army Pfc. Marvin E. Dickson,
killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In November, 1944, Dickson was a member of Headquarters Company,
1st Battalion, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. He was tasked
with facilitating communication among various battle elements by laying
telephone wire between headquarters and outposts in the Hürtgen Forest in
Germany. Dickson was allegedly killed in the early morning hours of Nov. 13,
1944, when he and other Soldiers moved to the front lines to reestablish broken
telephone lines. According to witnesses, one man was killed and three were
wounded. However, surviving members could not confirm Dickson’s death, nor
provide the exact location to where he was killed. He was subsequently listed as
missing in action. In Nov. 14, 1945, his status was amended to killed in
action.
DPAA is grateful the American Battle Monuments Commission for
their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Dickson’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in
Margraten, Netherlands, along with the other MIAs from WWII. Although interred
as an Unknown, Dickson’s grave was meticulously cared for by ABMC for 70 years.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
October 1
Chief Pharmacist's Mate James T. Cheshire, 39,
New Hope, Nelson Co., Kentucky.
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II, was accounted
for
On Dec. 7, 1941, Cheshire was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Cheshire.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Cheshire's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Army Pvt. Donald E. Brown, 24, of
Thompson, Iowa, accounted for, will be buried
October 6 in his hometown. In July 1944, Brown was a member of Company A, 745th
Tank Battalion, fighting in support of the 1st Infantry Division in the European
Theater, in World War II. Brown was killed in action on July 28, 1944, when his
M-4 Sherman tank was destroyed by enemy fire near Cambernon, France.
Following the close of hostilities, the American Graves
Registration Command (AGRC) searched for and disinterred the remains of U.S.
service members who were killed in battle.
In July, 1947, an investigation located remains in a tank from
Brown’s battalion. The remains, unable to be identified, were designated Unknown
X-452 Blosville and were interred in Normandy American Cemetery,
Colleville-sur-Mer, France.
Following thorough research and analysis of American Soldiers
missing from ground combat, as well as receiving family requests, the Department
of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission disinterred X-452 in August
2017 and accessioned the remains to the DPAA laboratory.
To identify Brown’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
DNA analysis, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material
evidence.
September 28
Army Sgt. Eugene W. Yost, 18, of Milaca,
Minnesota, and accounted for, will be buried
October 5 in Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minnesota. In September 1950, Yost
was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry
Division. Yost’s regiment was responsible for defending the road from Sanju to
Taegu in South Korea, and positioned themselves in bordering hills. On September
2, the unit received information that the 19th Regiment North Korea People’s
Army would attack in the evening. During the night, the North Koreans overran
the cavalry’s positions. Yost was last seen on Sept. 3, 1950, and was reported
missing in action when he could not be accounted for.
In March 1951, remains were found in the vicinity of Tongmyongwon,
South Korea, in an area that corresponded with where Yost’s regiment fought. The
remains, designated Unknown X-742 Tanggok, were unable to be identified and were
buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl,
in Honolulu.
On June 12, 2017, Unknown X-742 Tanggok was disinterred from the
Punchbowl and sent to the laboratory for identification.
To identify Leonard’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental
anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
Navy Storekeeper 2nd Class Gerald L. Clayton, 21,
Central City, Nebraska,
was killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II, was
accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Clayton was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Clayton.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Clayton's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Sailor
Naval Reserve Seaman 2nd Class Deward W.
Duncan, Jr., killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In January 1944, Duncan was assigned to Aviation, Construction,
Ordnance, Repair, Navy Fourteen, Standard Landing Craft Unit 4, when a Japanese
air raid on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, dropped a bomb near his
tent. Duncan was killed January 12, 1944 and was reportedly buried the same day
in Cemetery #33.
DPAA is grateful to History Flight, Inc., for their partnership
in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Duncan's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Navy Musician 2nd Class Francis E. Dick,
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II, was accounted
for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Dick was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Dick.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Dick's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Soldier
Army Pfc. Lewis E. Price,
Hawkins County,
Tenn. was killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In November, 1944, Price was a member of Company E, 2nd
Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, which moved into the
Hürtgen Forest in Germany, to relieve U.S. forces who had been fighting for
weeks. The fighting in and around the forest was frequently chaotic, and while
details surrounding his loss are sparse, he was reported missing in action as of
Nov. 6, 1944 when his reconnaissance patrol failed to return from a mission.
DPAA is grateful the American Battle Monuments Commission for
their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Price’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in
Margraten, Netherlands, along with the other MIAs from WWII. Although interred
as an Unknown, Price’s grave was meticulously cared for by ABMC for 70 years. A
rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for
September 26
Army Pfc. John W. Martin,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In late November 1950, Martin was a member of Medical Company, 32nd Infantry
Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Approximately 2,500 U.S. and 700 South Korean
soldiers assembled into the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), which was
deployed east of the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, when it was attacked by
overwhelming numbers of Chinese forces. As the Chinese attacks continued,
American forces withdrew south. By December 6, the U.S. Army evacuated
approximately 1,500 service members; the remaining soldiers had been either
captured, killed or missing in enemy territory. Martin was reported missing in
action on Dec. 2, 1950, after he was last seen near the Chosin Reservoir.
DPAA remains fully prepared to resume recovery operations in the
Democratic Republic of Korea, and looks forward to the continued fulfillment of
the commitment made by President Trump and Chairman Kim on the return and
recovery of U.S. service members in North Korea.
Awarded
Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Ribbon, Combat Medical Badge, Korean Service
Medal, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean
Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Korea War Service Medal and the World
War II Victory Medal.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to
scheduled funeral services.
Martin’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing in
Honolulu, along with the others who are missing from the Korean War. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Navy Fireman 1st Class Claude O. Gowey, 20,
Tangent, OR. was
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was
accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Gowey was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Gowey.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Gowey's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Merton R.
Riser, 19, of Sanborn, Iowa, accounted for, will be buried
September 28 in his hometown. In November 1943, Riser was a member of Company K,
3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force,
which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in
the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island.
Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and
Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were
virtually annihilated. Riser died on the first day of
the battle, Nov. 20, 1943.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military
success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because
the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which
to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central
Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S.
service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield
cemeteries on the island. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company
conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but
Riser’s remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were
sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for
identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were
interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the
Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
On Nov. 21, 2016, DPAA disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-144 from the
NMCP for identification.
To identify Riser’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) analysis,
anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
Navy Seaman 1st Class Robert V. Young,
23, of Bushnell, Illinois, accounted for, will be buried
September 29 in Bardolph, Illinois. On Dec. 7, 1941, Young was assigned to the
USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Young.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Young.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
NMCP for analysis.
To identify Young’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Pilot
U.S. Air Force Reserve Col. Fredric M.
Mellor, 30, of Cranston, Rhode Island, accounted for will
be buried Sept. 28, in Exeter, Rhode Island. On Aug. 13, 1965, Mellor, who was
assigned to the 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, and on temporary duty
with the 15th Reconnaissance Task Force, was flying the lead RF-101C aircraft in
a flight of two on a mission to conduct photo and visual reconnaissance of a
suspected surface to-air missile site in Son La Province, in the then-Democratic
Republic of Vietnam. During the flight, hostile ground fire damaged the
aircraft, causing it to crash. Mellor survived his ejection and attempted to
evade the enemy. Initial radio contact was established, however contact was
lost, and, despite a two-day search, neither Mellor nor his aircraft were found.
He was subsequently listed as missing in action.
North Vietnamesse witnesses claimed they saw or participated in
the shoot-down of an American aircraft and the capture and death of its pilot on
Aug. 13, 1965.
On Nov. 22, 1991, four Vietnamese witnesses returned to the site
where the pilot was allegedly killed. One witness recovered remains and personal
effects and turned the evidence over to U.S. investigators.
To identify Mellor’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis,
anthropological and isotopic analysis, as well as material and circumstantial
evidence.
DPAA is grateful to the government and the people of Vietnam for
their partnership in this recovery.
Capt. John A. House, II, 28, of Pelham,
New York; Lance Cpl. John D. Killen, III, 18, of Davenport, Iowa; and Cpl. Glyn
L. Runnels, Jr., 21, of Birmingham, Alabama, all U.S. Marine Corps.
These men, accounted for on Dec. 22, 2015, will be buried as a group Sept. 27,
2018 in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.
Partial remains of two other servicemen who were lost in this
incident and were individually identified in 2013, are also represented in this
group. They are Marine Lance Cpl. Merlin R. Allen, 20, of Madison, Wisconsin,
and Navy Hospital Corpsman Michael B. Judd, 21, of Cleveland, Ohio.
On June 30, 1967, House was the pilot of a CH-46A Sea Knight
helicopter, who with three other crew members, was attempting to insert eight
members of Company A, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, into
hostile territory in Thua Thien-Hue Province, Vietnam. As the helicopter
approached the landing zone, it was struck by enemy fire from the surrounding
tree line, causing the aircraft to catch fire and crash. Although three crew
members and four of the reconnaissance patrol passengers survived and were later
rescued, House, Killen, Runnels, Allen, and Judd died in the crash.
In 1993, a joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) team
investigated the case in Thua Thein-Hue Province. The team interviewed local
villagers who claimed to have discovered an aircraft crash site in 1991 in the
nearby forest while searching for wood. The team surveyed the location, finding
helicopter-related wreckage with no distinguishing markings.
In 2012, joint U.S./S.R.V. recovery teams excavated the crash
site and recovered human remains, material evidence, life support equipment, and
aircraft wreckage from the CH-46A helicopter. Additional recovery efforts in
2013 and 2014 failed to yield any additional human remains. Vietnam’s support to
the U.S. accounting mission was vital to the recovery of these individuals.
DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental analysis, anthropological analysis,
as well as circumstantial and material evidence to identify House, Killen and
Runnels individually.
DPAA is grateful to the government and people of Vietnam for
their partnership in this mission.
Navy Electrician's Mate 3rd Class Merle
A. Smith, 21, Washington was killed during the attack on the USS
Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on Aug. 14, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Smith was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Smith.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Smith's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Navy Seaman 2nd Class David B.
Edmonston, Washington D.C. killed during the attack on the USS
Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on July 3, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Edmonston was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Edmonston.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Edmonston's name is recorded on the Courts
of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from
World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Navy Seaman 1st Class Millard Burk, 20,
Pikeville Pike County Kentucky killed
during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on July
25, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Burk was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Burk.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Burk's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
September 21
Army Cpl. Edward M. Jones,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on Sept. 13, 2018.
In February 1951, Jones was a member of Company D, 1st Battalion,
38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, supporting Republic of Korea Army
attacks against units of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) in an near
Hoengsong, South Korea. On Feb. 12, 1951 Jones was reported missing in action
when he could not be accounted for by his unit.
DPAA remains fully prepared to resume recovery operations in the
DPRK, and looks forward to the continued fulfillment of the commitment made by
President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un on the return and recovery of
U.S. servicemen in North Korea.
Jones’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who
are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to
indicate he has been accounted for.
September 20
Army Pfc. William H. Jones,
19, of Nash County, N.C.,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on
September 13.
In November 1950, Jones was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion,
24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, engaged in attacks against the
Chinese People's Volunteer Forces near Pakchon, North Korea. On Nov. 26, 1950,
after his unit made a fighting withdrawal, he could not be accounted for and was
reported missing in action.
On July 27, 2018, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of U.S. servicemen killed
during the Korean War. The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,
Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA
laboratory for analysis.
DPAA remains fully prepared to resume recovery operations in the
DPRK, and looks forward to the continued fulfillment of the commitment made by
President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un on the return and recovery of
U.S. servicemen in North Korea.
Jones' name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the
others who are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his
name to indicate he has been accounted for.
September 20
Army Master Sgt. Charles H. McDaniel,
32, of Vernon, Indiana
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on September 12.
In November 1950, McDaniel was a medic with the 8th Cavalry
Regiment Medical Company, supporting the regiment's 3rd Battalion. The unit was
engaged with enemy forces of the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces (CPVF,)
southwest of the village of Unsan, and east of Hwaong-ri, North Korea. He was
reported missing in action on Nov. 2, 1950, when he could not be accounted-for
by his unit.
On July 27, 2018, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of U.S. servicemen killed
during the Korean War. The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,
Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA
laboratory for analysis.
DPAA remains fully prepared to resume recovery operations in the
DPRK, and looks forward to the continued fulfillment of the commitment made by
President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un on the return and recovery of
U.S. servicemen in North Korea.
McDaniel's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who
are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to
indicate he has been accounted for.
Soldier
Army Pfc. Willard Jenkins, 27, of
Scranton, Pennsylvania, accounted for on July 3, will be buried
September 26 in his hometown. In September 1944, Jenkins was a member of Company
C, 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion (307th AEB), 82nd Airborne Division near
Nijmegen, Netherlands. On Sept. 20, 1944, while participating in Operation
Market Garden, the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) was ordered to cross
the Waal River to make an amphibious attack on the bridges. Using borrowed
British assault boats, members of the PIR crowded into boats with members of
Jenkins’ battalion. According to historical reports, Jenkins operated the rudder
of one of the boats, and was wounded in the chest by fire, before falling
overboard. Because the area downstream of the river was controlled by enemy
forces, a search could not be conducted. Jenkins was declared missing in action
on Sept. 20, 1944.
Following the end of hostilities, the American Graves
Registration Command (AGRC), U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, was charged with
recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel interred in temporary American
cemeteries in the European Theater of Operations during and after World War II.
Jenkins’ remains were not found in any Allied cemeteries, nor in any towns
bordering the Waal River, where Jenkins was lost. On Aug. 15, 1950, Jenkins was
declared non-recoverable.
According to historical records, on Sept. 19, 1944, two residents
of Werkendam, Netherlands were in a rowboat on the Waal River when they saw a
body in the river. German soldiers stationed nearby took possession of the
remains and buried them on the riverbank.
In late August 1948, an investigator from the AGRC visited the
Werkendam area and inquired about the remains. The AGRC learned that a person of
the Information Bureau for missing English flyers had been to Werkendam to
examine the remains and determined them to be of American nationality, and had
them moved to Werkendam General Cemetery. The remains were disinterred on Sept.
17, 1948 and sent to the Identification Section at the U.S. Military Cemetery at
Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, for further analysis. The remains could not be
identified and were buried as Unknown X-7838 Neuville on Oct. 1, 1948.
After thorough research and historical analysis, historians from
DPAA determined that Jenkins was a strong candidate for association to the
remains. On April 18, 2018, X-7838 Neuville was disinterred and sent to DPAA.
To identify Jenkins’ remains, scientists from DPAA used dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Navy Seaman 1st Class Robert W. Headington, 19, Bay City, Michigan was killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on Aug. 6, 2018.
Seaman First Class Robert W. Headington, of Sidney Street, Bay City, Michigan, was a 19-year-old printer aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941.
His remains were never Identified but is listed as one of the
approximately 390 unknowns from the USS Oklahoma that have been buried in mass
graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Headington's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
September 18
Army Pvt. Charles G. Kaniaitobe, McCurtain,
Oklahoma was
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In July 1950, Kanaitobe was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion,
21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, engaged in combat operations the
against North Korean People’s Army near Chonui, South Korea. Kanaitobe could not
be accounted-for and was declared missing in action on July 10, 1950.
DPAA is grateful to Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Kanaitobe's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from the Korean War. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Soldier
Army Staff Sgt. Karl R. Loesche, Salem
Co, N.J. killed during World War II, was accounted for on September
13.
On Dec. 8, 1941, Loesche was a member of the 3rd Pursuit
Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine
Islands. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula
on April 9, 1942, and of the Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, which sits at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp, which at its peak held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor and supplies of food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves that were often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan proved exceedingly difficult in the years after the war
Staff Sergeant Karl R. Loesche entered the U.S. Army Air Forces
from New Jersey and served in the 3rd Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group in
the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the
American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of dysentery on November 16, 1942,
at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission for
their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Loesche’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Manila American Cemetery, an ABMC site along with the other MIAs from WWII.
Although interred as an "unknown" in Manilla American Cemetery, Loesche’s grave
was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle
Monuments Commission. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he
has been accounted for.
September 14
Army Cpl. Morris Meshulam, 19, of
Indianapolis, Indiana, accounted for on June 4, 2018, will be buried
Sept. 23 in his hometown. In late November 1950, Meshulam was a member of
Battery D, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Automatic Weapons,) 2nd
Infantry Division. The Division suffered heavy losses to units of the Chinese
People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) between the towns of Kunu-ri and Sunchon, North
Korea. Meshulam was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950.
In February 1951, a prisoner of war returned by the CPVF reported
that Meshulam died of cold weather injuries in early January 1951, but could not
give a location to where Meshulam’s remains were located.
In July 1951, a Korean farmer led a U.S. Army recovery team to a
grave in a field that contained the remains of a U.S. Soldier. The recovered
remains were sent to the Tanggok United Nations Memorial Cemetery for possible
identification. The remains, designated Unknown X-1596 were declared
unidentifiable and buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific,
known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In June 2016, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-1596 from the Punchbowl
and sent the remains to the lab for identification.
To identify Meshulam’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis,
dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as
circumstantial evidence.
Marine
September 14
Marine Corps Pfc. Roger Gonzales, 20, of
San Pedro, California, accounted for on June 4, 2018, will be buried
Sept. 21 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. In late November, 1950, Gonzales
was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine
Division. The U.S. X Corps began earnest operations in the northeast of the
Korean Peninsula against enemy units of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPFV),
which were thought to be soldiers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA). The X Corps
began its offensive, spearheaded by the 1st Marine Division and the U.S. Army’s
31st Regimental Combat Team, in the area of the Chosin Reservoir. On Nov. 27,
1950, Gonzales’ unit moved northwest from Hagru-ri to Fox Hill at the Toktong
Pass. In the early hours of November 28, the CPVF attacked and Gonzales’ company
sustained heavy casualties. Gonzales was reported to have been killed in action
on Nov. 29, 1950, and was buried at the base of Fox Hill.
On Sept. 10, 1954, the KPA returned a shipment of 25 sets of
remains that had reportedly been recovered from the west side of the Chosin
Reservoir. The remains were shipped to the Central Identification Unit Kokura in
Japan, for identification. One set of remains, designated X-15010 was declared
unidentifiable and was interred as an “Unknown” in the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In June 2016, after further analysis of historical and biological
information relating to X-15010 DPAA disinterred the unknown X-file from the
Punchbowl and sent the remains to the lab for identification.
To identify Gonzales’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA), DNA analysis, dental,
anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as material
and circumstantial evidence.
Soldier
Army Sgt. 1st Lt. Seymour P. Drovis,
killed during World War II, was accounted for on September 4.
In July 1944, Drovis was a member of Company A, 105th Infantry
Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, engaged against enemy forces in Achugao
Village, Saipan Island, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The
division sustained heavy casualties during one of the largest Japanese “banzai”
attacks of WWII. A soldier reported seeing Drovis fatally shot on July 7, 1944.
DPAA is grateful to the Japanese non-governmental organization,
Kuenti, working in conjunction with the Japanese government, and in cooperation
with a local archeological firm, Swift and Harper Archaeological Research and
Consulting, and the Japanese Historic Preservation Office for their partnerships
in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Drovis’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, along with the others
missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has
been accounted for.
Soldier
Army Pfc. Fred W. Ashley,
His family believed his remains were buried in a cemetery in the
southeast town of Filley,
"Lane's family didn't learn of the mistake until a family in
Idaho discovered the two soldiers' remains were switched."
In May 1945, Ashley was a member of Troop C, 2nd Cavalry
Reconnaissance Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Group, on a reconnaissance in the town of
Paseka, in the former Czechoslovakia. On 4 May, as many as three hundred German
soldiers attacked Ashley’s platoon. He was mortally wounded and was last seen
being taken away by German troops. Ashley’s unit reported him missing in action
as of May 4, 1945. Following the war, when Ashley was not among the American
prisoners liberated from German captivity, the War Department amended his status
to killed in action. His remains were not recovered following the battle.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Ashley’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Epinal American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Dinoze,
France, along with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to
his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Soldier
Army Sgt. Eugene G. McBride, 20,
Lancaster County, Nebraska
killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In January 1945, McBride was a member of Company I, 3rd
Battalion, 311th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division. On Jan. 30, 1945,
while engaged in an attack against enemy forces near Huppenbroich, Germany,
McBride was killed by a blast from an enemy artillery shell. His remains were
not identified by American forces after the battle.
Sgt. Eugene C. McBride, 20, has been missing in action in Germany since Jan. 30, the war department has informed his parents. Sergeant McBride entered the service in March, 1943, and took his basic training at Camp Butner, N. C., and was also stationed at Camp Pickett, Va., before leaving for overseas duty in October, 1944. He attended Lincoln high school and worked at Lincoln Army Air Field before joining the army.
"Mrs. Eileen Abker McBride, 2538 South Ninth Street, has received word of the
death of her husband, Sgt. Eugene McBride, in action in Germany, January 30.
Mrs. McBride received word February 13 that he was missing in action, and a
telegram Sunday notified her that he had been killed the same day."
DPAA is grateful the American Battle Monuments Commission for
their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
McBride’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium, an American Battle
Monuments Commission site along with the other MIAs from WWII. Although interred
as an Unknown, McBride’s grave was meticulously cared for by ABMC for 70 years.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Navy Chief Machinist’s Mate Dean S.
Sanders, 38, of Lima, Ohio, and accounted for on March 26, will be
buried September 19 in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in
Honolulu. On Dec. 7, 1941, Sanders was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma,
which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by
Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which
caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of
429 crewmen, including Sanders.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Sanders.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for identification.
To identify Sanders’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which
matched his family, anthropological analysis, which matched his records, along
with circumstantial evidence.
September 13
Army Master Sgt. Leonard K. Chinn, 34,
of Idaho Falls, Idaho, accounted for on July 12, will be buried Sept.
19, 2018 in Silver Creek, Nebraska. In late 1950, Chinn was a member of Company
D, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, when his unit was
fighting off persistent Chinese attacks in North Korea. Chinn was reportedly
captured by enemy forces on Dec. 1, 1950, and was held at several temporary
prisoner of war camps before being marched northwest to POW Camp 5 Complex,
North Korea.
Several repatriated American prisoners of war
reported that Chinn died April 5, 1951 in Camp 5.
On Dec. 14, 1993, North Korea turned over to the U.S. 33 boxes of
remains of servicemen who had died during the Korean War. North Korean
documents, turned over with some of the boxes, indicated that some of the
remains were recovered from the vicinity where POWs from Chinn’s unit were
believed to have died.
To identify Chinn’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
and autosomal (auSTR) DNA analysis, as well as anthropological analysis, and
circumstantial evidence.
Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Leonard A.
Tyma, 21, born in Dyer, Indiana, was accounted for on August 6.
In November 1943, Tyma was assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion,
8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, which landed
against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa
Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several
days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were
killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually
annihilated.
Tyma died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943, during the first waves
of the assault.
The battle of Tarawa was a significant victory for the U.S.
military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a
platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to
advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S.
service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield
cemeteries on the island, including Cemetery #33. The 604th Quartermaster Graves
Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946
and 1947, but Tyma’s remains were not identified. All of the remains found on
Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for
identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were
interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu.
In 2009, DPAA received a unilateral turnover from History Flight,
Inc., a nongovernmental organization, of remains recovered from Cemetery #33 on
Betio Island.
To identify Tyma’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental,
anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
Soldier
Army Tech. Sgt. Robert J. Fitzgerrell,
32, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was accounted for on September 4.
In January 1945, Fitzgerrell was a member of Company I, 3rd
Battalion, 311th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division. On Jan. 30, 1945,
while engaged in an attack against enemy forces near Huppenbroich, Germany,
Fitzgerrell stepped on an anti-personnel mine and was killed. His remains were
not identified by American forces after the battle.
After the war, the American Graves Registration Command traveled
to Huppenbroich and extensively searched the Hürtgen Forest, to locate
Fitzgerrell’s remains. Unable to make a correlation with any remains found in
the area, he was declared non-recoverable on Dec. 15, 1951.
In 2016, a historian from DPAA analyzed documentation of X-6998
Neuville, an unidentified set of remains recovered from a shallow burial near
Huppenbroich in 1947. The remains, unable to be identified in 1947, were
subsequently interred at Neuville, present-day Ardennes American Cemetery in
Belgium.
Based upon the original recovery location and evidence from the
personal effects associated with X-6998, the DPAA historian determined that
there was a possible association between the remains and Fitzgerrell. Following
a comparison of the X-6998 skeletal documentation to Fitzgerrell’s physical
characteristics, a DPAA anthropologist concurred, and DPAA officials recommended
disinterment. In June 2017, the Department of Defense and American Battle
Monuments Commission disinterred X-6998 and accessioned the remains to the
laboratory for identification
To identify Fitzgerrell’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and
Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis, as well as anthropological analysis, and
circumstantial and material evidence.
Navy Seaman 1st Class James W.
Holzhauer, 23, of Virginia, was accounted for on August 27.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Holzhauer was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Holzhauer.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Holzhauer.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Holzhauer’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis,
anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Navy Radioman 3rd Class Bruce H.
Ellison, 21, born in Poulsbo, Washington, was accounted for on August
27.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Ellison was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Ellison.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Ellison.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
¬
To identify Ellison’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis,
anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Navy Fireman 3rd Class Robert J.
Bennett, 18, born in Monona, Iowa, was accounted for on August 13.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Bennett was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Bennett.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Bennett.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Bennett’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome
DNA (Y-STR) analysis, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial
evidence.
Navy Water Tender 2nd Class Clarence M.
Lockwood, 21, born in Smithton, Arkansas, was accounted for on July
3.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Lockwood was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Lockwood.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Lockwood.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Lockwood’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, as
well as anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.
Water Tender 2nd Class Edgar D. Gross,
39, born in Athens, Alabama, was accounted for on September 5.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Gross was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Gross.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Gross.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
¬
To identify Gross’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Airman
Navy Reserve Ensign Harold P. DeMoss,
21, of Nashville, Tennessee, accounted for on May 9, will be buried
September 15 in his hometown. In the early morning hours of June 23, 1945,
DeMoss was a member of Fighting Squadron 100 (VF-100), piloting an F6F-3 Hellcat
from Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. DeMoss was
accompanied by two other squadron aircraft for a night division tactics training
flight. Following the completion of their flight plan, the pilots circled the
island. At Kahuku Point, the northern tip of Oahu, the pilots encountered a
layer of clouds. DeMoss climbed above the clouds and attempted to descend
through them. His aircraft was not seen reemerging from the clouds and attempts
to contact him via radio were unsuccessful. An immediate search for his aircraft
began.
Later that morning, aircraft observed burning wreckage in the
rugged, densely-forested terrain of the Ko’olau Mountain Range. On June 26,
1945, a search and rescue party hiked into the forest to locate the crash site.
The search party found remains that could not immediately be identified near a
crashed F6F aircraft.
On July 2, 1945, a second search team set out for the crash site
to identify the plane. The team located material evidence identifying the
wreckage as DeMoss’ F6F. On Aug. 30, 1945, DeMoss’ status was amended to
deceased and in August 1949, his remains were declared non-recoverable.
From August to October 2016, personnel from DPAA conducted an
excavation of the crash site, locating material evidence associated with DeMoss’
wreckage.
To identify DeMoss’ remains, scientists from DPAA used material
and circumstantial evidence.
September 6
Army Sgt. 1st Class James S. Streetman,
Jr. 23, born in Columbus, Georgia, was accounted for on August 31.
In July 1950, Streetman was a member of Company B, 19th Infantry
Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, participating in the defense of the 24th ID’s
Kum River Line against the Korean People’s Army (KPA), near the town of Taejon,
South Korea. The KPA outmaneuvered and overwhelmed Streetman’s regiment, forcing
units into a fighting withdrawal through enemy lines. Streetman was initially
reported to have been killed in action on Aug. 14, 1950, however historical
records determined he had been killed July 22, 1950.
After the war, the American Graves Registration Services (AGRS)
processed remains from South Korean battlefields for possible identification.
Remains that could not be identified were buried as “Unknowns” in the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. Because
no remains could be associated with Streetman, he was declared non-recoverable.
On Oct. 6, 1950, unidentified remains recovered from north of
Taejon designated as Unknown X-162, were interred by the U.S. Army in the former
American Cemetery No. 1, renamed to United States Military Cemetery Taejon.
After attempts to identify the remains were unsuccessful, Unknown X-162 were
declared unidentifiable and were subsequently interred at the National Cemetery
of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In 2017, ten sets of remains were disinterred from NMCP,
including Unknown X-162, and sent to the laboratory for analysis.
To identify Streetman’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis,
dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
Navy Seaman 1st Class Joseph K. Maule,
18, born in Bloomfield, Nebraska, was accounted for on August 8.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Maule was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Maule.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Maule.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
¬
To identify Maule’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
DNA analysis, dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial
evidence.
Navy Seaman 1st Class Earl P. Baum, 19,
born in Chicago, was accounted for on August 23.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Baum was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Baum.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Baum.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
¬
To identify Baum’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis,
anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Navy Seaman 1st Class George E. Naegle,
22, born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, was accounted for on August 27.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Naegle was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Naegle.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Naegle.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
¬
To identify Naegle’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Airman
Army Air Forces 1st Lt. John D.
Crouchley, Jr. 26, born in Providence, Rhode Island, was
accounted for on August 31.
In June 1944, Crouchley served as a pilot with the 828th
Bombardment Squadron, 485th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force. On June 28, 1944,
Crouchley was lost when his B-24H aircraft was shot down and crashed during a
combat mission over Romania. The nine crewmembers of aircraft parachuted safely,
were captured as prisoners of war in Belgium, and subsequently returned to duty.
Only Crouchley remained unaccounted for. Because the crash occurred in enemy
territory, American personnel were not able to conduct an immediate search, and
Bulgaria provided no evidence that his remains were recovered or buried. Based
on no further information of his status, he was declared deceased as of June 29,
1945.
Following the close of hostilities, the American Graves
Registration Command (AGRC) searched for and disinterred the remains of U.S.
service members who were killed in battle. Investigators compared Crouchley’s
medical information to unidentified remains recovered in Bulgaria, but a
positive match could not be made. On July 2, 1948, Crouchley’s remains were
declared non-recoverable.
In 2010, an investigation team of analysts from the Defense
POW/Missing Personnel Office and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (both
predecessors of DPAA) conducted a site survey of the alleged crash site and
interviewed potential witnesses. The site was consistent with the historical
loss records, as well as eyewitness accounts. The team recovered weaponry
bearing the serial number that correlated with Crouchley’s aircraft.
From July to September 2017, a DPAA recovery team excavated the
crash site, overlooking the village of Churen. The team recovered possible
osseous remains and material evidence. The remains were accessioned to the
laboratory for analysis.
To identify Crouchley’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, as
well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Airman
Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Herbert W.
Harms, 28, born in Rutland, Illinois, was accounted for on August 31.
In August 1944, Harms served as a B-17 tail gunner with the 569th
Bombardment Squadron, 390th Bombardment Group, 13th Combat Bombardment Wing, 3rd
Air Division, 8th Air Force. On Aug. 16, 1944, Harms’ aircraft was struck by
anti-aircraft artillery during a bombardment mission to Zeitz, Germany. The
aircraft crashed just outside the village of Cauerwitz, Germany. Eight of the
nine crewmembers of the “Dottie III/Green Banana” safely bailed out of the
aircraft, were captured and held as prisoners of war before being returned to
duty. None of the surviving crewmembers reported seeing Harms leave the
aircraft, though most believed he jumped before the crash. A German report
listed Harms as having died in the crash.
In June 1947, American Graves Registration Command (AGRC)
personnel disinterred the remains of one unknown American from a corner of the
civilian cemetery in Thierbach, Germany. According to the Narrative of
Investigation, the AGRC team had learned from the cemetery caretaker that a
plane had crashed and local residents had found remains. Following the
exhumation, the remains, which could not be identified, were buried at U.S.
Military Cemetery at Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, as X-5882 Neuville. In 1948,
the remains were disinterred for reprocessing, and were again declared
unidentifiable. They were subsequently reburied.
In September 1947, an AGRC team visited Cauerwitz, Saxony-Anhalt
to investigate Harms’ loss. The team examined the crash site with the local
Burgermeister (mayor) who told investigators that the aircraft had come from the
direction of Zeitz and some crewmembers parachuted from the aircraft. The team
did not learn about any burials of American casualties in nearby towns. The AGRC
compared previously collected X-file remains to Harms’ medical records, but a
positive match could not be made. Based on a lack of information regarding the
location of Harms’ remains, he was declared non-recoverable on May 10, 1950.
In 2016, based on a request from independent researcher Mr.
Christopher Unitt, a DPAA historian reviewed documents of remains recovered from
the area near Thierbach, including X-5882 Neuville. Historical documents
indicated that Harms was likely associated with X-5882.
Based on the historical analysis, X-5882 was recommended for
disinterment. On Sept. 5, 2017, a team from U.S. Army Regional
Mortuary-Europe/Africa exhumed the remains from Neuville American Cemetery and
accessioned the remains to the laboratory for identification.
To identify Harms’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis,
anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
Marine Corps Sgt. Millard Odom, 26, born
in Batesville, Arkansas, was accounted for on August 20.
In November 1943, Odom was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion,
2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, which landed against stiff
Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the
Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of
intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed
and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated.
Odom died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943, during the first waves
of the assault.
The battle of Tarawa was a significant victory for the U.S.
military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a
platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to
advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S.
service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield
cemeteries on the island. Odom was reportedly buried in Cemetery #33. The 604th
Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations
on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but Odom’s remains were not identified. All of
the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central
Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that
had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu.
On Feb. 27, 2017, DPAA disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-273 from the
NMCP, and sent the remains to the laboratory.
To identify Odom’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental,
anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Marine Corps Pfc. Alva J. Cremean
21, born in Pueblo, Colorado, was accounted for on August 14.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Cremean was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Cremean.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Cremean.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Cremean’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA
(auSTR) analysis, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
September 4
Army 1st Lt. Herman L. Falk, 22, of New
York, New York, was accounted for on August 14.
In February 1951, Falk was a member of Company B, 38th Infantry
Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, supporting Republic of Korea Army attacks
against units of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) in an the vicinity
of Changbong-ni, South Korea. Falk, and half of his platoon, were reported
missing in action on Feb. 12, 1951.
Following the war, returning American prisoners of war reported
that Falk died in either April or May of 1951, while being
held as a prisoner of war at the Suan Bean Camp in North Korea.
Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea returned to the United States
208 boxes of commingled human remains, which were later determined to contain
the remains of at least 400 U.S. servicemen who died during the war. First
Lieutenant Falk’s remains were included in this turnover
To identify Falk’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome
DNA (Y-STR) analysis, dental and anthropological analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
DPAA remains fully prepared to resume recovery operations in the
Democratic Republic of Korea, and looks forward to the continued fulfillment of
the commitment made by President Trump and Chairman Kim on the return and
recovery of U.S. service members in North Korea.
August 30
Navy Radioman 3rd Class Dante S.
Tini,19, born in Virginia, Minnesota, was accounted for on August 13,
On Dec. 7, 1941, Tini was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Tini.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Tini.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Tini’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
August 29
Navy Seaman 1st Class Richard L. Watson,
20, born in Crossett, Arkansas, was accounted for on August 14.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Watson was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Watson.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the
remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and
Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen
U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves
Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the
two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at
Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the
identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS
subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In
October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as
non-recoverable, including Watson.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy
memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS
Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the
Punchbowl for analysis.
¬
To identify Watson’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
August 29
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Myron K. Lehman,
20, born in Gann Valley, South Dakota, was accounted for on August 9.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Lehman was assigned to the battleship USS
Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits,
which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the
deaths of 429 crewmen, including Lehman. <