“HONOR THE DEAD BY HELPING THE LIVING”
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 - 2471
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
August 21
Army Pvt. William A. Boegli, from Park County,
Montana
killed during World War II, was accounted for on August 14.
In September 1944, Boegli was a member of Company L, 332nd
Infantry Regiment, 81st Infantry Division, invading Angaur Island in the Palau
Island chain. After Boegli’s regiment successfully captured Red Beach on the
northeastern shore, they pushed westward across the island. On Sept. 30, 1944,
Boegli was killed while attempting to lead a group of litter bearers to evacuate
wounded servicemen. His remains were not recovered following the war.
There may be other awards received we do not have
records of.
Interment services are pending; a formal notification will be
released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
DPAA is appreciative to the American Battle Monuments Commission
and the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial for their partnership in this
mission.
Boegli's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Manila American Cemetery site along with the other MIAs from WWII. Although
interred as an Unknown, Boegli’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past
70 years by the ABMC. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he
has been accounted for.
August 21
Army Pfc. Kenneth B. Williams, captured
and killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on August 13.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the government and people of the Democratic
People’s 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.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Williams' 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.
Airman
August 20
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.
Army Air Forces Sgt. Alfonso O. Duran,
22, of El Rito, New Mexico, accounted for on May 22, will be buried
August 22 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In February 1944, Duran was a nose gunner on
a B-24H Liberator, assigned to the 724th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 451st
Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force. On February 25, 1944, the final day of
Operation Argument, Duran’s aircraft came under attack by German fighters and
anti-aircraft fire, while he was on a bombing mission targeting Regensburg,
Germany. The tail gunner in another aircraft witnessed a direct hit on Duran’s
aircraft, which tore off a section of the right wing. Nine of the ten crew
members were able to bail from the aircraft before it crashed. The tail gunner
from Duran’s aircraft reported he had last seen Duran alive in the aircraft, but
believed Duran did not bail out. All nine of Duran’s crewmates survived the bail
out and were captured and interrogated in Verona, Italy, where they were told
that one body had been found in the aircraft wreckage. The crash site was
reported to be located near Ljubljana, Slovenia, an area then under Axis
control.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service,
Mediterranean Zone, of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, searched for the
remains of U.S. service personnel in Europe, as part of the global effort to
identify and return them for honored burial. No remains could be associated with
Duran, and he was declared deceased as of Feb. 25, 1944.
In 2006, analysts began research on Duran’s loss after receiving
information concerning a B-24 Liberator that had reportedly crashed near the
village of Pokojišče, municipality of Vrhnika, Slovenia. A team from the Defense
POW/Missing Personnel Office, a predecessor of DPAA, visited the alleged crash
site in 2012 and interviewed residents who reported the remains of an
unidentified Allied airman from that crash site were initially buried along the
side wall of Saint Stephens Church in Pokojišče, and that the grave was
regularly tended to by Mrs. Tončka Dragar, who cordoned it off with stones and
regularly laid flowers on the mound.
The team was then shown a headstone erected in 1962 at the back
of Saint Stephens Church, indicating that the unidentified Allied airman, by
then portrayed as an Australian airman, had been reburied together with four
Partisan soldiers, two of whom were also unidentified.
In 2016, with information provided by several private Slovenain
researchers, DPAA concluded that the remains were likely those of Duran. Because
there was a possibility that the remains were of an Australian, DPAA invited the
collaboration of the Office of Australian War Graves Commission (OAWG) and Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF) Directorate of History and Heritage.
Upon concurrence from the OAWG and RAAF, and with the gracious
permission of Father Janez Šiler, the Parish Priest of St. Stephens, the
families of the Partisan soldiers believed to have been buried in the alleged
mass grave, the Slovenian Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Affairs, and Equal
Opportunities, and the Institute for Protection of Cultural Heritage of
Slovenia, in July 2017 a DPAA recovery team excavated several alleged burial
sites adjacent to the church in Pokojišče, recovering possible osseous remains.
To identify Duran’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence.
August 17
Army Pfc. Morris R. Worrell,
captured and killed during World War II, was accounted for on August 13.
On Dec. 8, 1941, Worrell was a member of Company F, 2nd
Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 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. Thousands of U.S.
and Filipino service members were taken prisoner; including many who were forced
to endure the Bataan Death March, en route to Japanese prisoner of war (POW)
camps, including the POW camp at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, Philippines.
Worrell was among those reported captured after the surrender of Corregidor and
who were eventually moved to the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs
perished in this camp during the remaining years of the war.
Interment services are pending; a formal notification will be
released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
DPAA is appreciative to the American Battle Monuments Commission
for their partnership in this mission.
Worrell's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Manila American Cemetery site along with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette
will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Marine
August 16
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 Pfc. Herman W.
Mulligan, Jr., 21, of West Greenville, South Carolina, accounted for
on February 20, will be buried August 21 in Arlington National Cemetery, near
Washington, D.C. On May 30, 1945, Mulligan was a member of Company L, 3rd
Battalion, 22nd Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division, engaged in heavy fighting
against Japanese forces on Hill 27, on the northern bank of the Kokuba Estuary,
Okinawa, Japan. A large crypt loaded with ammunition exploded, wounding dozens
and killing Mulligan.
The remains of most Americans killed during the fighting in
Okinawa were transported to six cemeteries that had been established shortly
after American forces landed on the island. The American Graves Registration
Service (AGRS) attempted to bury fallen service members in the cemetery of their
division, but due to the large number of casualties, deceased were often sent to
various unit cemeteries. The disposition of Pfc. Mulligan’s remains was
initially unknown.
Following the war, the AGRS searched for and disinterred the
remains of U.S. servicemen in the Pacific area as part of a global effort to
identify and return fallen servicemen. Investigators at the time could not
associate Mulligan’s medical or dental records with any unidentified remains
found in Okinawa. Additionally, there was no record of his burial.
By August 1948, more than 10,000 remains were disinterred from
Okinawa and shipped to Saipan prior to being shipped to Manila. In September
1949, one set of unidentified remains, X-35, was classified as unidentifiable
and interred in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.
In May 2017, following thorough historical research and analysis
of unit records and AGRS recovery reports, X-35 was disinterred and accessioned
to DPAA for scientific testing.
To identify Mulligan’s remains, DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical
Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA), as well as anthropological analysis,
and circumstantial evidence.
August 16
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 Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Arthur
Glenn, 43, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, accounted for on Nov. 17, 2017,
will be buried August 21 in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in
Honolulu. On Dec. 7, 1941, Glenn’s 43rd birthday, he 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 Glenn.
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 Glenn.
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 Glenn’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used Y-chromosome (Y-STR) DNA analysis, which
matched his family, as well as dental and anthropological analysis, along with
circumstantial evidence. Glenn was the 100th identification made by DPAA of the
USS Oklahoma casualties.
August 16
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 Pfc. Robert K. Holmes, 19,
of Wichita, Kansas, accounted for on May 9, will be buried August 20
in Salt Lake City Utah. On Dec. 7, 1941, Holmes 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 Holmes.
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 Holmes.
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 Holmes’ 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.
August 16
Army Pfc. George L. Spangenberg, from
Butler,
Pennsylvania, killed during
the Korean War, was accounted for on August 14.
In November 1950, Spangenberg was a member of Company E, 8th
Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was reported missing in action on
Nov. 2, 1950 following a battle in Unsan, North Korea, the days prior.
Spangengberg’s name was never included on lists of American Soldiers being held
as prisoners of war by the Korean People’s Army (KPA) or the Chinese People’s
Volunteer Forces (CPVF,) and no returned American prisoners of war had any
information on his status.
DPAA is grateful to the government and people of the Democratic
People’s 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.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Spangenberg'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.
August 15
Army Pfc. Mathis O. Ball, Jr., 20, from
Texas, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on August 14.
In July 1950, Ball was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 21st
Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, engaged in combat operations against
North Korean forces near Choch’iwon, South Korea. Ball could not be
accounted-for and was declared missing in action on July 12, 1950.
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.
Ball'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.
August 15
Navy Aviation Chief Ordnanceman Otis E. Ingram,
28,
Pensacola, Florida,
killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 25, 2018.
On July 27, 1944, Ingram was a turret gunner aboard a torpedo
bomber from U.S. Navy Torpedo Squadron Fifty One (VT-51). Ingram’s aircraft was
the lead of four Avengers on a mission targeting the Japanese base at Malakal
Harbor. The aircraft was last observed three to five miles ahead of the other
aircraft, at the beginning of the attack. Witnesses observed an object, believed
to be an aircraft, on fire in Malakal Harbor. All three servicemen on board,
including Ingram, were reported missing in action and subsequently presumed dead
on Feb. 4, 1946.
DPAA is grateful to the government of Palau and Bent Prop for
their partnership in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Ingram’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Manila American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site, along
with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to
indicate he has been accounted for.
August 10
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from the Korean War, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Pfc. Joe S. Elmore, 20, of
Seminary, Kentucky, accounted for on July 3, will be buried August 18
in Albany, Kentucky. In late November, 1950, Elmore was a member of Company A,
1st Battalion, 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. Because Elmore could not
be accounted for by his unit, he was reported missing in action as of Dec. 2,
1950.
Elmore’s name did not appear on any prisoner of war lists and no
returning Americans reported him as a prisoner of war. Due to the prolonged lack
of evidence, the U.S. Army declared him deceased as of May 1, 1953.
On Oct. 19, 1995, during a United Nations Command/Korean People’s
Army meeting at Panmunjom, the KPA offered to repatriate the remains of a
British soldier killed during the Korean War. The KPA identified the remains to
be Pvt. J. Edmunds, who was reportedly found by a KPA work crew in July 1995,
near Wangsan, Rimkangni, Kaesong City. The remains were handed over on Oct. 30,
1995, and the British government asked DPAA’s predecessors to identify the
remains.
On Feb. 28, 1996, the remains were declared unidentifiable.
On Sept. 1, 1997, the British Army Headquarters Adjutant General,
Personnel and Training Command, sent a request to the Adjutant General, U.S.
Army Personnel Command, requesting the remains be returned for burial in Busan,
South Korea, during the visit of the British Korean Veterans Association to
Korea in April 1998. The remains were transferred to the custody of British
authorities and were buried in a grave marked as “British Unknown.”
Following the institution of the Korean War Project, DPAA was
able to associate the unknown remains with two missing U.S. service members.
In November 2017, the remains were disinterred by the 8th Army
Mortuary, U.S. Forces Korea and transported to DPAA.
To identify Elmore’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA and autosomal (auSTR)
DNA analysis, as well as anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.
Airmen
August 10
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.
Army Air Forces Capt. George Van Vleet,
Jr., 35, of Fresno, California, accounted for on March 19, will be
buried August 18 in his hometown. On Jan. 21, 1944, Van Vleet was a member of
the 38th Bombardment Squadron, (Heavy), 30th Bombardment Group, stationed at
Hawkins Field, Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, when the B-24J
bomber aircraft he was aboard crashed shortly after take-off.
Following the crash, the squadron’s physician recovered the
remains of six individuals who died in the crash and interred them in Cemetery
No. 33 on Betio Island, one of several cemeteries established on the island.
Following the war, the U.S. Army’s 604th Quartermaster Graves
Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946
and 1947. Using Marine Corps records, they began the task of consolidating all
the remains from isolated burial sites into a single cemetery called Lone Palm
Cemetery. The remains of the crew on the B-24J bomber were believed to be among
those moved, however Van Vleet’s remains were not identified and he was declared
non-recoverable.
On Nov. 7, 2016, DPAA disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-014 from the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In May 2017, through a partnership with History Flight, Inc.,
DPAA returned to Betio to conduct excavations of remains of men buried after the
battle. One set of remains was consolidated with the remains disinterred from
X-014 and was sent to the lab for analysis.
To identify Van Vleet’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y-chromosome (Y-STR) and autosomal (auSTR)
DNA analysis, which matched his family, dental, and anthropological analysis,
which matched his records, as well as circumstantial evidence.
August 8
Army Pfc. Leo J. Duquette,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on Aug. 8, 2018.
In July 1950, Duquette was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion,
21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, engaged in combat operations
against North Korean forces near Choch’iwon, South Korea. Duquette could not be
accounted-for and was declared missing in action on July 11, 1950.
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.
Duquette’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.
August 8
Army Pfc. John A. Taylor,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for May 9, 2018.
In August 1950, Taylor was a member of Company C, 2nd Battalion,
24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division in South Korea. On Aug. 11, his
regiment encountered a Korean People’s Army unit near the village of Haman.
Taylor’s company was ordered to move southwest, where they were ambushed and
forced to disperse. In the days following, the battalions of 24th Infantry
Regiment consolidated their positions, reorganized and began accounting for
their Soldiers. After several days of checking adjoining units, aid stations and
field hospitals, Taylor was reported as killed in action on Aug. 12, 1950, but
his remains were not recovered.
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.
Taylor’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.
Airmen
August 8
Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Martin F.
O’Callaghan, Jr., killed during World War II, was accounted for on
April 24, 2018.
In February 1945, O’Callaghan was a pilot with the 96th Fighter
Squadron, 82nd Fighter Group, on a mission to strafe targets near Maribor,
Yugoslavia, now Slovenia. While attacking locomotives near a railway station,
O’Callaghan’s P-38 Lightning aircraft was struck by anti-aircraft fire. He
radioed his squadron-mates to say that he might attempt to bail out of the
aircraft, however, according to witnesses, he attempted to land the aircraft in
a field southeast of Maribor. As he was attempting to land, the aircraft
inverted, crashed and burst into flames. Because Yugoslavia was an occupied
territory at the time, no immediate search for his remains could be conducted.
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.
O’Callaghan’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 other MIAs from WWII. Although interred as an
"unknown”, his grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the
American Battle Monuments Commission.
August 8
Army Master Sgt. Carl H. Lindquist, 33,
Kandiyohi, Minnesota,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for June 4, 2018.
In late November 1950, Lindquist was a member of Headquarters
Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. The unit,
designated the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), engaged with forces of the
Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) in a battle on the east side of the
Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. Lindquist was reported missing in action during
the battle, on Nov. 29, 1950.
Other information: ENTERED ON
10 SEPTEMBER 1941. SERVED THE DURATION OF WORLD WAR II AND WAS DISCHARGED ON 11
NOVEMBER 1945. RE-ENLISTED FOR KOREA AND WAS A MEMBER OF COMPANY H, 31st
INFANTRY REGIMENT, 7th INFANTRY DIVISION. BECAME MISSING IN ACTION ON 29
NOVEMBER 1950 AS A PART OF TASK FORCE MACLEAN IN THE CHOSIN RESEVOIR.
WAS PRESUMED AND DECLARED DEAD ON 31 DECEMBER 1953. BODY WAS NEVER RECOVERED.
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.
Lindquist’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.
Airmen
August 7
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.
Army Air Forces Flight Officer Richard
W. Lane, 21, of Beatrice, Nebraska, accounted for on April 23, will
be buried Aug. 9 in Gage, Nebraska. In December 1944, Lane served with the 815th
Bombardment Squadron, 483rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 15th Air Force. He was
killed on Dec. 27, 1944 when the B-17G aircraft he co-piloted was shot down on a
bombardment mission over Austria. As Allied aircraft neared the target at Linz,
Austria, they encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire. Lane’s aircraft took a
direct hit over Linz and reportedly crashed near St. Florian, Austria.
Lane and three other crew members were listed as buried in St.
Florian Cemetery on Dec. 29, 1944.
In May 1945, the American Graves Registration Command, in an
effort to investigate unresolved casualties that occurred in Europe, concluded
that one of the Airmen in Lane’s aircraft was the only unresolved Airman killed
in close proximity to the recovery locationW of X-239. Based on this
information, X-239 was disinterred but dental analysis was unable to make a
positive association with the Airman. The remains were then reinterred in the
United States Military Cemetery Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, on Aug. 2, 1950.
In June 1945, the AGRC recovered four sets of remains from a
single grave near the cathedral in the St. Florian Cemetery. The AGRC was able
to identify one set of remains, designating the others as Unknowns X-59, X-60
and X-61. The unidentified remains were transferred to the temporary cemetery in
Nurnberg, Germany.
In August 1945, unknown remains were disinterred from the
Nurnberg cemetery for reprocessing and moved to the U.S. military Cemetery at
St. Avold, France, where they were redesignated as X-239, X-240, X-241 and X-242
St. Avold.
In January 1946, the Quartermaster General identified the remains
designated X-240 to be Lane, subsequently burying them in the Filley Cemetery in
Gage County, Nebraska.
Based on DPAA’s analysis of historical documents, it is likely
that the remains designated X-239 and X-240 became exchanged during or
immediately after the August 1945 movement to St. Avold.
On June 8, 2017, a team from the U.S. Army Regional
Mortuary-Europe/Africa, working with the American Battle Monuments Commission,
exhumed X-239 from the Henri-Chapelle Cemetery. The remains were transferred to
DPAA for analysis.
To identify Lane’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, as well
as dental and anthropological analysis, and circumstantial evidence.
August 7
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 Pvt. Emil F.
Ragucci, 19, of Philadelphia, accounted for on Nov. 13, 2017, will be
buried August 14, in his hometown. In November 1943, Ragucci was assigned to
Company E, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 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.
Ragucci 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 the
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. In 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves
Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio Island, but
Ragucci’s remains were not recovered. On Oct. 24, 1949, a military review board
declared Ragucci’s remains non-recoverable.
In September 2013, through a partnership with History Flight,
Inc., JPAC (a predecessor to DPAA) received the remains of a group that had been
located in the known area of Cemetery 33. The remains were sent to the Central
Identification Laboratory in Honolulu for analysis.
To identify Ragucci’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.
August 7
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from the Korean War, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Rufus L. Ketchum,
38, of Superior, Wisconsin, accounted for on April 23, will be buried
August 14 in his hometown. In late November 1950, Ketchum was a member of
Medical Detachment, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team,
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. The U.S. Army evacuated approximately 1,500 service members; the
remaining soldiers had been either captured, killed or missing in enemy
territory. McKinney was reported missing in action on Dec. 6, 1950, when he
could not be accounted for after the withdrawal to Hagaru-ri.
Ketchum’s name did not appear on any prisoner of war lists and no
returning Americans reported Ketchum as a prisoner of war. Based on the
testimony of a surviving member of his unit who witnessed Ketchum’s death, the
U.S. Army declared him deceased as of Dec. 6, 1950.
In September 2001, a joint U.S. and Korean People’s Army (KPA)
recovery ream conducted a Joint Recovery Operation (JRO) in the vicinity of the
Chosin Reservoir, Changjin County, Chagjin District, South Hamgyong Province,
North Korea, based on information provided by two Korean witnesses. During the
excavation, the recovery team recovered material evidence and possible osseous
remains of at least seven individuals. The remains were subsequently sent to the
laboratory for identification.
To identify Ketchum’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA and Y-chromosome
(Y-STR) DNA analysis, anthropological analysis, and material and circumstantial
evidence.
August 6
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Wilbur C. Barrett, 26,
El Dorado, Kansas
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was
accounted for on June 20, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Barrett 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 Barrett.
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.
Barrett'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.
U.S. Air Force Reserve Col. Frederic M. Mellor, 30,
Cranston RI,
killed
during the Vietnam War, was accounted for on July 13.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the government and people of Vietnam, as well
as the Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons, for their assistance in
returning Mellor's remains to present-day DPAA.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days
prior to scheduled funeral services.
Mellor'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 Vietnam War. A rosette will be placed next to
his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
August 2
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from the Korean War, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Cpl. Terrell J. Fuller, 20, of
Toccoa, Georgia, accounted for on April 13, will be buried Aug. 11 in
his hometown. In February 1951, Fuller 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 area
known as the Central Corridor in South Korea. After enduring sustained enemy
attacks, the American units withdrew to Wonju, South Korea. It was during this
withdrawal that Fuller was reported missing, as of Feb. 12, 1951.
In December 1951, Fuller’s name appeared on a list provided by
the CPVF and Korean People’s Army (KPA) of allied service members who died while
in their custody. Following the war, a fellow soldier from the same company
reported that he had been held prisoner with Fuller, but
was unaware of his status. When Fuller was not returned after the armistice, the
U.S. Army declared him deceased as of Feb. 18, 1954.
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. On May 20,
1990, North Korea turned over five boxes of remains believed to be
unaccounted-for servicemen from the war.
To identify Fuller’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 and chest radiograph comparison
analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence
August 2
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from the Korean War, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Sgt. William A. Larkins, 20, of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, accounted for on May 4, 2017, will be
buried Aug. 10 in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. In late November 1950, Larkins was
a member of A Battery, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division,
fighting off persistent Chinese attacks in the Ch’ongch’on River region of North
Korea. Through a series of attacks, the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) pressed
2ID units into local withdrawals to avoid being outflanked. On the night of Nov.
25, 1950, the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) began relentless attacks
which continued until the end of the month. On Dec. 1,1950, the 503rd FA BN
began their movement down the Main Supply Route under continuous enemy mortar,
small arms and machine gun fire, toward the town of Sunchon, where Larkins was
reported missing in action.
Following the war, one returning prisoner of war
reported that Larkins had been captured and had died at an unknown prisoner of
war camp in January 1951.
Based on this information, the U.S. Army declared him
deceased as of Jan. 31, 1951.
In April and May 2005, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (now
DPAA,) and KPA Recovery Team conducted the 37th Joint Field Activity in Unsan
County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. A site southeast of the
Pukchin-Tarigol Prisoner of war camp cluster was found to have probable human
remains and material evidence, and was completely excavated. The remains were
sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis on May 27, 2005.
To identify Larkins’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA), Y-chromosome short
tandem repeat (Y-SYR) and autosomal (auSTR) DNA analysis, as well as dental and
anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.
July 31
Marine Corps Cpl. Claire E. Goldtrap,
21, from Oklahoma,
killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 1, 2018.
In November 1943, Goldtrap 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.
Goldtrap died on the first day of the battle,
Nov. 20, 1943, during the first wave of the assault.
DPAA is grateful to the Department for 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.
Goldtrap’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
July 31
Army Pfc. Leslie Shankles,
33, Vernon County, Missouri,
killed during World War II, was accounted for on July 12, 2018.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the Department for 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.
Shankles’ 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 others missing from WWII. Although
interred as an Unknown in Neuville American Cemetery, Shankles’ grave was
meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the ABMC. A rosette will be
placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
July 31
Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Robert L. Zehetner,
from Florida,
killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 20, 2018.
In November 1943, Zehetner was a member of 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.
Zehetner died on the first day of the battle,
Nov. 20, 1943.
DPAA is grateful to the Department for 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.
Zehetner’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.
July 31
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 Fireman 1st Class Chester E.
Seaton, 20, of Omaha, Nebraska, accounted for on Nov. 6, 2017, will
be buried August 8 in Tacoma, Washington. On Dec. 7, 1941, Seaton 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 Seaton.
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 Seaton.
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 Seaton’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which
matched his family, as well as dental and anthropological analysis, along with
circumstantial evidence.
Members of the 1942 graduating class at Tuskegee Army Flying School:
Alwayne Dunlap, Lawrence E Dickson, Wilmeth W Sidat Singh and Elmer L Gordon.
U.S. Army Air Forces Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson,
Bronx, N.Y.,
killed
during World War II, was accounted for on July 27.
In December 1944, Dickson was a pilot with the 100th Fighter
Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, in the European Theater. On Dec.23, 1944, Dickson
departed Ramitelli Air Base, Italy on an aerial reconnaissance mission toward
Praha, Czechoslovakia. On his return, Dickson’s P-51D aircraft suffered engine
failure and was seen to crash along the borders of Italy and Austria, reportedly
between Malborghetto and Tarviso, Italy. According to witnesses, Dickson’s plane
had rolled over with the canopy jettisoned. He was not observed ejecting from
the plane. Dickson’s remains were not recovered and he was subsequently declared
missing in action.
DPAA is grateful to the government and people of Austria, the
University of New Orleans, the University of Innsbruck, and Mr. Roland Domanig,
for their partnerships in this recovery.
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
Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in
Impruneta, Italy, along with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will be placed
next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Marine
July 27
Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Merton R. Riser,
Sanborn, Iowa
killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 20, 2018.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the Department for 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.
Riser’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.
July 27
Navy Carpenter's Mate 3rd Class William L. Kvidera, 22,
Waterloo, IA ,
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for
on July 3, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Kvidera 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 Kvidera.
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.
Kvidera'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.
July 26
Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Ottaway B.
Cornwell, killed during World War II, has now been accounted for.
On January 27, 1944, Cornwell was a member of the 4th Fighter
Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, Twelfth (XII) Air Force, piloting a Supermarine
Spitfire aircraft, which was shot down over Pierrefeu-du-Var, France. Cornwell
was engaged in battle with a German Messerschmitt 109 (Me-109). Another pilot
also engaged in battle witnessed two unidentified aircraft crash into the side
of a mountain near Pierrefeu-du-Var. Cornwell could not be reached through radio
contact. Because southern France was occupied by enemy forces, an immediate
search could not be conducted. After Allied forces liberated the area, they were
unable to locate Cornwell’s remains.
DPAA is grateful to Mr. Steve Leleu and the French government for
their assistance in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Cornwell’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.
Soldier
July 26
Army Pvt. John B. Cummings,
killed during World War II, was accounted for on July 12.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission for
their partnership in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Cummings’ 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 others missing from WWII. Although interred as an Unknown
in Normandy American Cemetery, Cummings’ grave was meticulously cared for over
the past 70 years by the ABMC. A rosette will be placed next to his name to
indicate he has been accounted for.
July 26
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 Eugene W. Wicker,
20, of Coweta, Oklahoma, accounted for on January 10, will be buried
August 4 in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. On Dec. 7, 1941, Wicker 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 Wicker.
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 Wicker.
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 Wicker’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA and Y-chromosome
(Y-STR) DNA analysis, which matched his family, as well as circumstantial
evidence and dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records.
July 26
Marine Corps Pfc. Robert K. Holmes,
19, Salt Lake County, Utah,
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was
accounted for on May 9, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Holmes 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 Holmes.
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.
Holmes’ 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.
July 23
Navy Aviation Radioman 3rd Class Walter E. Mintus,
Portage, Pa.
killed
during World War II, was accounted for on June 25, 2018.
On July 27, 1944, Mintus was a radioman aboard a torpedo bomber
from U.S. Navy Torpedo Squadron Fifty One (VT-51). Mintus’ aircraft was the lead
of four Avengers on a mission targeting the Japanese base at Malakal Harbor. The
aircraft was last observed three to five miles ahead of the other aircraft, at
the beginning of the attack. Witnesses observed an object, believed to be an
aircraft, on fire in Malakal Harbor. All three servicemen on board, including
Mintus, were reported missing in action and subsequently presumed dead on Feb.
4, 1946.
DPAA is grateful to the government of Palau and Project Recover
for their partnership in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Mintus’ name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Manila American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site, along
with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to
indicate he has been accounted for.
July 23
Navy Fireman 1st Class Millard C. Pace, 24,
Arkansas,
killed
during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Pace 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 Pace.
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.
Pace’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.
July 20
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.
Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Vincent L.
Politte, 19, of Leavenworth, Kansas, accounted for on April 11, will
be buried July 30 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In the summer of 1943, Politte
served as a gunner with the 345th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment
Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. He was killed while participating in a raid on the
Ploesti Oil Refinery complex north of Bucharest, Romania, during Operation Tidal
Wave. The goal of the operation was to destroy the refineries in the area in
order to hamper the German war effort. During the raid, Politte’s B-24 Liberator
aircraft was hit by machine gun fire and crashed. Following the war, his remains
could not be identified.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration
Command (AGRC) searched for and disinterred the remains of U.S. servicemen in
Europe as part of the global effort to identify and return fallen servicemen.
Remains that could not be identified were designated as unknowns and interred in
U.S. overseas cemeteries. Beginning in 2010, DPAA and its predecessors digitized
and began to analyze more than 8,000 files for Unknowns from WWII.
One set of unidentified remains, designated Unknown X-5056
Neuville, were historically linked to an unaccounted-for American lost during
the aerial bombing raids against oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania.
In April 2016, following analysis by DPAA anthropologists of
biological DNA for X-5056 Neuville that suggested the remains could most likely
be identified, the Unknown was disinterred and transported to the DPAA
laboratory.
To identify Politte’s remains, DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical
Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA), analysis, dental, anthropological
and chest radiograph comparison analysis, and circumstantial evidence.
Army Cpl. Albert E. Mills, from Texas,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on July 13.
In July 1950, Mills was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion 5th
Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, blocking the Korean People’s Army from
advancing along a corridor linking the cities of Taejon and Taegu. South Korea.
On July 23, 1950, enemy forces attacked American defenses at Yongdong. Mills was
reported missing in action on July 25, 1950, as a result of the fighting, when
he could not be accounted for by his unit.
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.
Mills' 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.
Army Cpl. Francisco Ramos-Rivera,
20,
NEW YORK, NEW YORK killed
during the Korean War, was accounted for on July 12.
In July 1950, Ramos-Rivera was a member of Company H, 2nd
Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, engaged in combat
operations against North Korean forces near Taegon, South Korea. As U.S. forces
regrouped after their evacuation, Ramos-Rivera could not be accounted-for and
was declared missing in action on July 20, 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.
Ramos-Rivera'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.
Army Master Sgt. Leonard K. Chinn, 34,
Idaho Falls, Idaho
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on July 12.
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.
Leonard Chinn earned the Silver Star while fighting in World War
II. The Silver Star is the “third-highest military combat decoration that can be
awarded to a member of the United States Armed Forces,”
DPAA is grateful to the government and people of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, and looks forward to a fulfillment of the commitment
made by President Trump and Chairman Kim on the return and recovery of U.S.
service members in North Korea.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Chinn'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.
Army Pvt. Delbert J. Holliday, La
Crosse, Wi. killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on July
12, 2018.
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
North 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 UNMC Pyongyang on Dec. 3, 1950, and buried remains could
not be recovered.
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.
Holliday'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.
Army Cpl. Francisco Ramos-Rivera, 20, NEW YORK, NEW YORK killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on July 12.
On July 20, 1950, the 3rd Battalion of the U.S. 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, was holding a defensive line in South Korea overlooking the Taejon Airport, northeast of the city. When enemy tanks broke through the line near the airport, U.S. troops were ordered to fall back through Taejon. The 3rd Battalion was ordered to lead the convoy out of Taejon, but ran into a series of collapsed structures and roadblocks that broke up the column. U.S. forces were unable to break through these roadblocks, and to avoid capture soldiers moved off-road and began filtering through the countryside in small groups.
Corporal Francisco Ramos-Rivera entered the U.S. Army from New York and served in Company H, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action on July 20 during the withdrawal from Taejon, though the exact details surrounding his loss are unknown. His remains were not recovered or identified among those returned to U.S. custody following the war. Today, Corporal Ramos-Rivera is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Army Master Sgt. Leonard K. Chinn,
34, Idaho Falls, Idaho
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on July 12.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the government and people of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, and looks forward to a fulfillment of the commitment
made by President Trump and Chairman Kim on the return and recovery of U.S.
service members in North Korea.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Chinn'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.
July 16
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 Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class George
H. Gibson, 20, of Winchester, Kansas, accounted for on February 12,
will be buried July 21 in Inglewood, California. On Dec. 7, 1941, Gibson 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 Gibson.
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 Gibson.
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 Gibson’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA, as well as
anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from the Korean War, have been
identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military
honors.
Army Pfc. Walter W. Green, 18, of
Zanesville, Ohio, accounted for on Aug. 8, 2017, will be buried July
20 in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. In November 1950, Green
was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry
Division, participating in combat actions against the Chinese People’s Volunteer
Forces (CPVF) in the vicinity of Unsan, North Korea. Green was reported missing
in action as of Nov. 2, 1950 when he could not be accounted for by his unit.
Following the war, during an operation known as
“Operation Big Switch,” when prisoners of war were returned, returning Americans
from Pyoktong Camp 5 reported that Green had been captured and died while at POW
Camp 5. Based on this information, the U.S. Army declared him deceased on June
30, 1951.
Although the U.S. Army Graves Registration Service planned to
recover American remains that remained north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone
after the war, administrative details between the United Nations Command and
North Korea complicated recovery efforts. An agreement was made and in September
and October 1954, in what was known as Operation Glory, remains were returned.
However, Green’s remains were not included and he was declared non-recoverable.
In September 1954, a set of remains received from North Korea and
reportedly recovered from the Pyoktong Cemetery were returned and designated
Evacuation (Evac) N-14413 by the Central Identification Laboratory (CIU-Kokura).
However, the remains could not be identified and were interred as Unknown
X-14413 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
In November 1998, the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii
recommended the disinterment of 15 unknowns, including X-14413. The remains were
disinterred on January 31, 2001 and sent to the laboratory for analysis.
To identify Green’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis,
laboratory analysis, including dental, anthropological and chest radiograph
comparison, as well as circumstantial evidence.
July 16
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.
Army Staff Sgt. David Rosenkrantz, 28,
of Los Angeles, accounted for on March 7, will be buried in June 20
in Riverside, California. In September 1944, Rosenkrantz was a member of Company
H, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, participating in
Operation Market Garden, a ploy by Allied planners to break German defensive
lines on the western front by capturing a highway route through the Netherlands.
On Sept. 28, 1944, Rosenkrantz’ platoon occupied Heuvelhof, a farm, located
south of the town of Groesbeek. German tanks and infantry launched a major
attack that morning. The isolated paratroopers hid among sparse trees and
buildings. As Rosenkrantz rose from his position, enemy gunfire erupted and
Rosenkrantz was killed. Due to enemy fire and the proximity to enemy troops,
Rosenkrantz’ remains could not be recovered.
Between 1945 and 1952, Canadian, Dutch and American Graves
Registration teams were active in the area where Rosenkrantz died. The Dutch
team recovered identification tags for Rosenkrantz, along with fragmentary
remains. An American team, acting on the information provided by the Dutch,
followed up and found additional fragmentary remains, but the combined remains
discovered were too sparse to be identified. Unbeknownst to those teams, a
Canadian team working in the area prior to their arrival had already collected
the remains of service members killed in this area. As a result of all of these
activities, several sets of unidentifiable remains recovered from the
battlefields around Groesbeek were buried as unknowns in American Battle
Monuments Commission (ABMC) cemeteries in Europe.
After thorough research and historical analysis by DPAA. Aided by
Dutch researcher Mr. Ben Overhand and 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment
historian Mr. Frank Van Lunteren, one set of interred remains, X-1234 Margraten,
was circumstantially associated to the location of where Rosenkrantz was killed.
The remains, which were initially recovered by the 2nd Canadian
Graves Registration Unit, were buried at the Canadian Military Cemetery on June
22, 1945, and were listed as an American Soldier.
On June 14, 2017, DPAA disinterred X-1234 from the Netherlands
American Cemetery.
To identify Rosenkrantz’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis,
which matched his family, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his
records; and circumstantial evidence.
July 6
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 James C. Solomon,
23, of Forestburg, Texas, accounted for on Sept. 26, 2017, will be
buried July 14, in his hometown. On Dec. 7, 1941, Solomon 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 Solomon.
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 Solomon.
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 Solomon’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, as well
as anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.
July 6
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 Fireman 2nd Class Lowell E. Valley,
19, of Ontonagon, Michigan, accounted for on January 11, will be
buried July 14 in his hometown. On Dec. 7, 1941, Valley 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 Valley.
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 Valley.
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 Valley’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA), Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
and autosomal (auSTR) DNA, as well as circumstantial evidence and dental and
anthropological analysis.
July 5
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from World War II, have been
identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military
honors.
Army Air Forces 1st Lt. William W.
Shank, 24, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, accounted for on March 5, will
be buried July 14 in his hometown. On Nov. 13, 1943, Shank was a pilot with the
338th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Fighter
Command, 8th Air Force, flying his P-38 on a mission to Bremen, Germany. Shank
was killed after engaging in fierce enemy action.
In June 1948, the American Graves Registration Command recovered
partial remains from a P-38 crash site at Osteressen, Germany, however they were
declared unidentifiable, designated as X-7466 and buried as an Unknown at
Ardennes American Cemetery, Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.
On May 29, 2008, historians from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting
Command (JPAC, a predecessor to DPAA) met with a local German researcher, Mr.
Werner Oeltjebruns, who said he could identify Shank’s crash site. The team
visited the crash site in Osteressen, where material evidence of a crash site
remained.
In 2016, a DPAA recovery team conducted an excavation of the
Osteressen site, where they recovered possible osseous material. Simultaneously,
after thorough historical research and analysis, DPAA disinterred X-7466 from
Neuville.
To identify Shank’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, as well
anthropological analysis and material evidence.
Soldier
July 3
Army Pfc. Willard Jenkins, 26,
Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania,
killed during World War II, was accounted for on July 3, 2018.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and
the government of the Netherlands for their partnership in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Jenkins’ 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", his 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.
Army Pfc. Joe S. Elmore,
Clinton, 30, Hickman County, Kentucky,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for July 3, 2018.
In late November, 1950, Elmore was a member of Company A, 1st
Battalion, 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. Because Elmore could not
be accounted for by his unit, he was reported missing in action as of Dec. 2,
1950.
DPAA is grateful to the British government and military
authorities, as well as the Korean government for their partnership in this
mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Elmore’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.
July 3
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.
Army Air Forces Sgt. Charles H. Daman,
21, of De Smet, Idaho, accounted for on Aug. 28, 2017, will be buried
July 11 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. In the spring of 1945, as the war in Europe
drew to a close, Allied forces launched a series of aerial attacks to cripple
what remained of the German air force. Daman, who was a member of the 714th
Bombardment Squadron, 448th Bombardment Group, 2nd Bombardment Division, was
aboard an aircraft on an attack mission on April 4, 1945, as one of more than
400 bombers to attack airbases at Parchim, Perleberg and Wesendorf, Germany. The
aircraft, which held 10 airmen, was attacked by enemy fighter planes in the
vicinity of Hamburg.
Following the attack, the aircraft exploded and crashed, leaving
only one survivor, who was subsequently captured after he parachuted into the
town of Ludwigslust. Personal effects of eight of the nine missing crewmembers
were found and identified by the surviving airman.
On August 15, 1997, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (now DPAA)
investigative team travelled to Ludwigslust to locate a possible crash site. A
local helped the team analyze a 1948 site sketch and align it with present-day
landmarks. With this information, the team found aircraft wreckage.
In 2014 and 2015, multiple recovery teams excavated the site,
finding osseous material. The remains were sent to DPAA for analysis.
To identify Daman’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which
matched his family, as well as anthropological analysis, which matched his
records, and material evidence.
July 3
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.
Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. John H.
Canty, 22, of Winsted, Connecticut, accounted for on Dec. 12, 2017,
will be buried July 10 in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. On
June 22, 1944, Canty was a member of the 555th Bombardment Squadron, 386th
Bombardment Group, IX Bomber Command, aboard a B-26 Maurader on a nighttime
bombing mission from Easton Lodge-Essex, England, against targets near Caen,
France. His B-26 was shot down between the villages of Baron-sur-Odon and Gavrus,
France. All eight crewmembers were killed in the incident. Because the location
of the crash was in German-held territory, U.S. forces were unable to make a
detailed search for the crew at the time of their loss.
Following the liberation of France, the American Graves
Registration Command (AGRC), U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, searched for and
disinterred the remains of U.S. service members who were killed in battle.
Residents of Gavrus recalled that a two-engine airplane crashed just outside the
village on June 22, 1944. An American was recovered and buried in a nearby
British cemetery. In 1945, the remains were exhumed and he was identified as an
airman aboard the same aircraft as Canty. However, no other remains were
identified and Canty was declared non-recoverable.
In 1986, a French citizen located remains and personal effects
recovered from a crash site near Gavrus. The remains were handed to the Normandy
American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, France, and were later identified as
four individuals from the same aircraft as Canty.
In October 2014, Mr. Michael Jurd, a British researcher contacted
U.S. authorities that he found remains, as well as personal effects that
corresponded to Canty, near Gavrus.
In 2016, a DPAA investigation team surveyed the reported crash
site and recommended it for excavation.
Between April and May 2017, a DPAA recovery team excavated the
crash site between Baron-sur-Odon and Gavrus, locating possible remains and
personal effects.
To identify Canty’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which
matched his family, as well as dental and anthropological analysis, which
matched his records, and material evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from the Korean War, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Elmore B. Goodwin,
25, of Norfolk, Virginia, accounted for Aug. 18, 2017, will be buried
July 9 in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. In late November
1950, Goodwin was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment,
25th Infantry Division, engaged in combat operations against the Chinese
People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) in the vicinity of Anju, North Korea. Goodwin
was reported missing in action on Nov. 27, 1950. When no information regarding
Goodwin was reported by returning American POWs, the U.S. Army declared him
deceased as of Dec. 31, 1953.
On August 30, 1998, during a Joint Recovery Operation, a Joint
U.S./ North Korean recovery team interviewed a witness who claimed to have found
human remains in a cornfield in Kujang District. On Sept. 6, 1998, the remains
were repatriated to the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii.
To identify Goodwin’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, as well
as anthropological analysis, and circumstantial evidence.
July 2
Army Pvt. Donald E. Brown,
killed during World War II, killed during World War II, was accounted for on
June 20, 2018.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission for
their assistance in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Brown’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Brittany American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in
Saint James, France, along with the others missing from WWII. Although interred
as an Unknown in Normandy American Cemetery, Brown’s grave was meticulously
cared for over the past 70 years by the ABMC.
July 2
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 Pvt. Kenneth D. Farris, 19, of
Dodson, Texas, accounted for on April 23, will be buried July 9 in
Dallas. In November 1944, Farris served with Company B, 22nd Infantry Regiment,
4th Infantry Division. Farris’ unit arrived in the Hürtgen Forest in Germany on
Nov. 9, 1944 and immediately began preparing to advance eastward to the town of
Grosshau. Despite continued progress, the regiment’s Soldiers sustained heavy
losses due to enemy artillery fire. On Nov. 28, 1944, Farris was wounded by
artillery and left the front line for the battalion aid station. His regiment
remained in combat for several more days, reaching the outskirts of Gey,
Germany, before being pulled off the front line. When officers took an
accounting of the surviving Company B soldiers, Farris could not be found. The
last any of the survivors knew was that he had tried to find an aid station. He
was listed missing in action when he could not be located.
Due to a lack of new information, Farris was declared deceased as
of Nov. 29, 1945.
Between 1946 and 1950, dozens of unidentified remains were
recovered from the Hürtgen Forest by various graves registration units. In May
1946, members of the 6890th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company of the
American Graves Registration Command, recovered an unburied set of remains in a
minefield near Gey, Germany. The remains were designated as X-2762 Neuville and
interred at United States Military Cemetery Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium-
present day Ardennes American Cemetery. X-2762 was disinterred on Nov. 17, 1948
for reprocessing. When an identification could not be made, they were interred
at Epinal American Cemetery in France. Because no remains had been associated
with Farris, he was declared non-recoverable on Dec. 8, 1950.
Following thorough scientific and historical analysis by DPAA
historians, X-2762 Neuville was disinterred from the Epinal American Cemetery on
July 27, 2017 and sent to DPAA for analysis.
To identify Farris’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA and Y-chromosome
(Y-STR) DNA analysis, as well as anthropological, and dental analysis, and
material evidence.
June 29
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 1st Class Joseph M. Johnson,
22, of Rushford, Minnesota, accounted for on Aug. 28, 2017, will be
buried July 7 in his hometown. On Dec. 7, 1941, Johnson 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 Johnson.
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 Johnson.
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 Johnson’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
DNA analysis, which matched his family, as well as circumstantial evidence and
laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons and anthropological analysis,
which matched his records.
June 29
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 1st Class Leon Arickx, 22,
of Mitchell, Iowa, accounted for on January 30, will be buried July 7
in Osage, Iowa. On Dec. 7, 1941, Arickx 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 Arickx.
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 Arickx.
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 Arickx’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis,
anthropological analysis, along with circumstantial evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from the Korean War, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Cpl. Thomas W. Reagan, 18, of
Lebanon, Indiana, and accounted for on March 30, will be buried July
6 in Pensacola, Florida. In August 1950, Reagan was assigned to Company A, 14th
Engineer Combat Battalion, 24th Infantry Division, participating in the defense
of the 24th ID’s main supply route and the town of Yongsan in an area known as
the Naktong Bulge, in South Korea. Reagan’s company, an engineer unit, was
overwhelmed and outmaneuvered by the Korean People’s Army, and utilized as an
infantry unit in an attempt to hold open the supply route. On Aug. 12, 1950, the
company was able to withdraw to a safe area to account for their Soldiers.
Reagan could not be accounted for and was declared missing in action.
An Unknown, labeled X-165 Tanggok, buried in the division’s
cemetery at Miryang, South Korea, was recovered on Sept. 12, 1950. Attempts to
associate the remains with unresolved U.S. casualties were unsuccessful and they
were declared unidentifiable. The remains were buried in the National Memorial
of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, as a Korean War Unknown.
After thorough scientific and historical analysis, it was deemed
that X-165 could likely be identified. On May 19, 2014, a request to exhume
X-165 was made and approved. The remains were disinterred and sent to the
laboratory for identification.
To identify Reagan’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, as well
as dental and anthropological analysis, and circumstantial evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, captured during m the Korean War, have been
identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military
honors.
Army Sgt. John W. Hall, 23, of Jennings,
Louisiana, accounted for on June 6, 2017, will be buried July 6 in
Houston. In late November 1950, Hall was a member of Headquarters Battery, 503rd
Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On Nov. 29, 1950, Hall’s unit
received orders to move from Kunu-ri to Sunchon, North Korea. The division
received reports that the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) had set up
fireblocks on several roads, including their planned withdrawal route. The
division organized a movement into convoys, with Hall in the eighth convoy.
Hall’s battalion began their withdrawal through an area known as “The Gauntlet.”
Hall was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950, in the vicinity of
Somindong, North Korea.
Following the war, one returning American
prisoner of war reported that Hall had been captured and died on January 26,
1951 at Hofong Camp, or “Death Valley,” part of the Pukchin-Tarigol Camp
Cluster.
Although the U.S. Army Graves Registration Service hoped to
recover American remains that remained north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone
after the war, administrative details between the United Nations Command and
North Korea complicated recovery efforts. An agreement was made and in September
and October 1954, in what was known as Operation Glory, remains were returned.
However, Hall’s remains were not included and he was declared non-recoverable.
In April and May 2005, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command
(predecessor to DPAA) and Korean People’s Army (KPA) recovery team conducted the
37th Joint Field Activity in Unsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea.
Remains were found in what was believed to have been a secondary burial site,
and were sent to the Central Identification Laboratory in Honolulu for analysis.
To identify Hall’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and autosomal (auSTR)
DNA analysis as well as anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence.
June 29
Navy Fireman 1st Class Raymond R. Camery,
killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for
on March 28, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Camery 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 Camery.
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.
Camery’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
Marine Corps Pfc. Roger Gonzales, 20,
San Pedro,
California,
killed during the Korean War, was accounted for April 4, 2018.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their
partnership in this recovery.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Gonzales’ 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.
June 25
Navy Fireman 1st Class Walter F. Schleiter,
from Ohio
was killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted
for on May 18, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Schleiter 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 Schleiter.
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.
Schleiter'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.
June 25
Navy Seaman 1st Class Daniel L.
Guisinger, Jr., killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World
War II, was accounted for on May 22, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Guisinger 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 Guisinger.
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.
Guisinger'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
June 22
Army Sgt. James K. Park,
Jefferson County,
Texas
killed
during World War II, was accounted for on June 20, 2018.
In November 1944, Park was a member of Company I, 26th Infantry
Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, engaged in fierce fighting within the Hürtgen
Forest in Germany. Park was reported missing in action on Nov. 23, 1944, when he
was believed to have been wounded by shrapnel from a shell that struck a tree
above him. Due to continuous enemy fire, Soldiers from Park’s company were
prevented from searching for him. Additionally, no graves registration teams
reported finding his remains. Due to no information regarding his whereabouts,
his status was amended to deceased as of Nov. 24, 1945.
DPAA is grateful to American Battle Monuments Commission for
their partnership with this disinterment.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released
7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Park’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission in
Margraten, along with the others missing from WWII. Although interred as an
Unknown, Park’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the
ABMC.
June 21
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 Air Forces Staff Sgt. Percy C.
Mathews, 25, of Andalusia, Alabama, accounted for on March 26, will
be buried June 28 in Pensacola, Florida. On May 29, 1943, Mathews was a member
of the 422nd Bombardment Squadron, 305th Bombardment Group, 8th U.S. Air Force,
participating in a strike against the German submarine base at Saint-Nazaire,
France. The B-17 Mathews was aboard was hit by enemy fire as it left the target
area. Mathews did not make it out of the bomber before it crashed. Survivors
believed the aircraft crashed approximately 150 kilometers from Saint-Nazaire,
near the French village of Quintin. German reports indicated one casualty was
recovered from the wreckage of the plane, though no burial information was
provided.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration
Command (AGRC) searched for and disinterred the remains of U.S. servicemen in
Europe as part of the global effort to identify and return fallen servicemen.
Remains that could not be identified were designated as unknowns and interred in
U.S. overseas cemeteries. Beginning in 2010, DPAA and its predecessors digitized
and began to analyze more than 8,000 files for Unknowns from WWII.
One set of unidentified remains, designated X-205 St. James, were
disinterred from a cemetery in St. Brieuc, France, prior to Sept. 16, 1944. The
remains could not be identified and were interred in the American cemetery at
St. James, present day Brittany American Cemetery.
In May 2015, a French researcher, Daniel Dahiot, provided DPAA
with a page from the St. Brieuc West Cemetery burial register, showing the names
of Americans who were interred there during World War II, including Mathews. On
April 4, 2017, following thorough historical research and analysis, by DPAA
analysts, of unit records and AGRS recovery reports, X-205 was disinterred.
To identify Mathews’ remains, DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical
Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA), anthropological analysis, as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
June 21
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of five U.S. servicemen, accounted-for from World War II, are being
returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are: Tech Sgt. John F. Brady, 26,
of Taunton, Massachusetts; Tech Sgt. Allen A. Chandler, Jr., 23, of Fletcher,
Oklahoma; 1st Lt. John H. Liekhus, 29, of Anaheim, California; Staff Sgt. Robert
O. Shoemaker, 23, of Takoma Park, Maryland; and Staff Sgt. Bobby J. Younger, 19,
of McKinney, Texas, all U.S. Army Air Forces, accounted for on Aug.
10, 2017. These men will be buried as a group June 27 in Arlington National
Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.
On Nov. 2, 1944, the Airmen were members of the 323rd Bombardment
Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force. Their nine-man
aircrew was on a mission to Merseburg, Germany, when their plane was hit by flak
during the bomb run. As the B-17 fell out of formation, German fighters
attacked. Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft burst into flames and descend
rapidly. It crashed two kilometers southwest of the town of Barby. Three
crewmembers survived and were taken as prisoners of war. One airman who was
killed was identified in May 1945. Brady, Chandler, Liekhus, Shoemaker and
Younger were all declared missing in action. In January 1951, the American
Graves Registration Command (AGRC) concluded that the five unaccounted-for crew
members perished in the crash and the location of their remains was unknown.
Department of Defense historians and analysts, aided by German
researchers and local government officials, located a potential crash site
associated with their loss. Recovery operations were conducted from June to
September 2015. Recovery teams found osseous remains, material evidence and
aircraft wreckage.
DPAA returned to the crash site in April and May 2016, locating
additional osseous remains, material evidence and aircraft wreckage,
consolidating them with the evidence from the previous operations.
Three of the crew, Brady, Shoemaker and Younger, were able to be
individually identified through mitochondrial DNA analysis, forensic
identification tools and circumstantial evidence. The remains that could not be
individually identified represented the entire crew.
DPAA is grateful to the German government for their assistance in
this recovery.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than
400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,906 service members
(approximately 26,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted
for from World War II. Brady’s, Chandler’s, Liekhus’, Shoemaker’s and Younger’s
names are recorded on the Walls of the Missing on the Tablets of the Missing at
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site
in Hombourg, Belgium, along with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will be
placed next to each name to indicate they have been accounted for.
June 19
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman from World War II have been identified and will
be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Navy Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class John H.
Schoonover, 39, of Port Edwards, Wisconsin, accounted for on Aug. 14,
2017, will be buried June 26 in Pensacola, Florida. On Dec. 7, 1941, Schoonover
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 Schoonover.
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 Schoonover.
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 Schoonover’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, as
well as circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, to include dental
comparisons and anthropological analysis.
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.
Army Staff Sgt. Leo J. Husak, 21, of
West, Texas, accounted for on February 12, will be buried June 23 in
his hometown. In January 1945, Husak was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion,
309th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division, serving in the European
theater. Husak was killed during a combat patrol on Jan. 30, 1945 in Germany’s
Hürtgen Forest. The offensive in the forest was one of the longest battles the
United States fought during World War II, lasting for nearly five months.
Due to the ongoing fighting, Husak’s remains were not recovered
by members of his unit during the battle. After the war, the American Graves
Registration Command (AGRC) collected hundreds of unknown sets of remains from
battlefields in Germany, and labeled each set with an X-number. One set of
remains, designated X-1043 Margraten, had been recovered from an area in the
Hürtgen Forest where Husak was believed to have been killed. The AGRC was unable
to identify the remains and buried them at Margraten in June 1945 as an
unknown.
In March 1947, personnel from the AGRC reprocessed the remains
but were unable to associate the remains with any American service members. They
were again reinterred in Margraten in July 1949.
In October 2016, DPAA researchers made a historical association
between X-1043 Margraten and Husak, based on the recovery site of the remains
and where he was killed. On June 13, 2017, the remains were disinterred and
repatriated to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
To identify Husak’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which
matched his family, as well as dental and anthropological analysis, which
matched his records, and circumstantial evidence.
June 15
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.
Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Roy F. Davis,
26, of Peterborough, New Hampshire, accounted for on June 7, 2017,
will be buried June 23 in Ashby, Massachusetts. On March 12, 1944, Davis was a
member of the 13th Bombardment Squadron, 3rd Bombardment Group, as one of two
crewmembers aboard an A-20G Havoc bomber that failed to return to base in
northeastern New Guinea after attacking enemy targets on the island.
Attempts to locate the aircraft and crew, both during and after
the war, were unsuccessful. The War Department declared Davis, as well the other
crewmember, 2nd Lt. Vernal J. Bird, deceased on June 30, 1949; their remains
were listed as non-recoverable.
In September 2001, a team from the U.S. Army Central
Identification Laboratory (a predecessor to DPAA) located a crash site in a
remote area of Papua New Guinea. A native Papuan turned over pieces of wreckage
he claimed to have recovered from the crash site. The team also recovered
possible remains. On July 15, 2013, the remains were identified as Bird’s.
In February and March 2016, a DPAA Recovery Team excavated the
crash site, and recovered additional remains and material evidence. The remains
were subsequently sent to the DPAA laboratory.
To identify Davis’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) analysis, which
matched his family, as well as dental and anthropological analysis, which
matched his records, and circumstantial evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, recently accounted-for from the Korean War,
are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Pfc. David Baker, 18, of Gary,
Indiana, accounted for on January 31, will be buried June 23 in
Hobart, Indiana. In late November 1950, Baker was a member of Company I, 3rd
Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, positioned in the
vicinity of Yongbyong, North Korea. Baker’s battalion moved north and lost
contact with two other regiments. On Nov. 25, 1950, 3rd BN met with enemy
resistance and was attacked by Chinese People’s Volunteer Force. The battalion
suffered heavy casualties and Baker was declared missing in action as of Nov.
28, 1950, when he could not be accounted for by his unit. Later reports indicate
that baker was likely captured by the enemy during battle.
Although the U.S. Army Graves Registration Service hoped to
recover American remains that remained north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone
after the war, administrative details between the United Nations Command and
North Korea complicated recovery efforts. An agreement was made and in September
and October 1954, in what was known as Operation Glory, remains were returned.
However, Baker’s remains were not included, and he was declared
non-recoverable.
In December 1993, North Korea turned over 34 boxes of remains,
which were sent to the Central Identification Laboratory in Honolulu. One box
was reportedly exhumed from Tongju-ri, a village near Prisoner of War Camp 5.
While no returning prisoners of war reported Baker as a prisoner, where the
remains were recovered indicated he had been captured.
To identify Baker’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which
matched his family, as well as anthropological analysis and circumstantial
evidence.
Marine
June 15
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 Pfc. John W. Mac Donald, 19, of
Somerville, Massachusetts, accounted for on Aug. 15, 2016, will be
buried June 22 in Bourne, Massachusetts. In November 1943, Mac Donald was
assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division,
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. Mac Donald 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. In 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves
Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio Island, but
Mac Donald’s remains were not recovered. On Feb. 28, 1949, a military review
board declared Mac Donald remains non-recoverable.
In June 2015, a nongovernmental organization, History Flight,
Inc., notified DPAA that they discovered a burial site on Betio Island and
recovered the remains of what they believed were 35 U.S. Marines who fought
during the battle in November 1943. The remains were turned over to DPAA in July
2015.
To identify Mac Donald’s remains, scientists from DPAA used
laboratory analysis, including anthropological analysis and dental and chest
radiograph comparison analysis, which matched Mac Donald’s records; as well as
circumstantial and material evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Korean War, have been
identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military
honors.
Army Pfc. Felipe A. Champion, 19, of
Brownsville, Texas, accounted for on Aug. 8, 2017, will be buried
June 21 in his hometown. On Feb. 12, 1951, Champion was a member of Company K,
3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, when he was reported missing in action
following a battle with the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) in an area
known as the Central Corridor, South Korea. After CPVF units withdrew north
beyond Hongch’on in early March, American units began moving forward and found
war dead, however Champion’s remains could not be identified.
A list provided by the CPVF and Korean
People’s Army (KPA) listed Champion as a prisoner of war, and a returning
American prisoner of war reported that Champion died while in custody at the
Suan Bean Camp prisoner of war camp in 1951. Based on this information,
the U.S. Army declared him deceased on May 3. 1951.
Although the U.S. Army Graves Registration Service planned to
recover American remains that remained north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone
after the war, administrative details between the United Nations Command and
North Korea complicated recovery efforts. An agreement was made and in September
and October 1954, in what was known as Operation Glory, remains were returned.
However, Champion’s remains were not included and he was declared
non-recoverable.
Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea returned to the United States
208 boxes of commingled human remains, which when combined with remains
recovered during joint recovery operations in North Korea, account for the
remains of at least 400 U.S. servicemen who fought during the war. On May 28,
1992, North Korea returned 15 boxes of remains reportedly to have been recovered
from where Champion was believed to have died.
To identify Champion’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis,
anthropological analysis, and circumstantial evidence.
June 14
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 Storekeeper 3rd Class Wallace E.
Eakes, 22, of Caney, Kansas, accounted for on Sept. 26, 2017, will be
buried June 21, in Denver, Colorado. On Dec. 7, 1941, Eakes 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 Eakes.
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 Eakes.
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 Eakes’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental
anthropological analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial
evidence.
June 13
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.
Army Pfc. John H. Walker, 20, of Morning
Sun, Iowa, accounted for on April 11, will be buried June 20 in his
hometown. On Nov. 24, 1944, Walker was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion,
18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, when he was reported missing in
action after his unit engaged in fierce fighting on Hill 207 near Schönthal,
Germany in the Hürtgen Forest. With no evidence that Walker had been captured or
survived combat, his status was changed to deceased on Nov. 25, 1945.
After the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC)
collected thousands of unknown sets of remains from battlefields in Germany, and
labeled each set with an X-number.
In November 1948, German resident Mr. Bernhard Kueppers found
remains in the woods at the northern edge of the Hürtgen Forest near Langerwehe,
Germany, and notified AGRC personnel, who recovered them the following month.
The remains were processed at the Central Identification Point in Neuville
Belgium, and designated X-7980 Neuville. In September 1949, the remains were
declared unidentifiable and were interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery in
Neuville, France.
In April 1949, with no association between Walker and X-7980
Neuville, an AGRC investigator traveled to Schönthal to investigate the loss of
Walker, however no remains could be located. On Dec. 15, 1950, having received
no further evidence that could lead to the recovery of Walker, he was declared
non-recoverable.
In 2016, a historian from DPAA conducted a study of unresolved
American losses in the northern part of the Hürtgen Forest. Careful analysis of
AGRC records and unit combat reports indicated a strong association between
X-7980 and Walker.
Based off of that research, and a thorough scientific review of
the biological and dental records, the DPAA and the American Battle Monuments
Commission exhumed X-7980 in June 2017 and transferred the remains to DPAA.
To identify Walker’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
DNA analysis, as well as dental and anthropological analysis.
June 12
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 Reserve Radioman 2nd Class Julius
H.O. Pieper, 19, of Esmond, South Dakota, accounted for on Nov. 15,
2017, will be buried June 19 at the Normandy American Cemetery in
Colleville-sur-Mer, France. On June 19, 1944, Pieper was a member of Landing
Ship Tank Number 523 (LST-523), off the coast of Normandy, France. The ship
exploded and sank after striking an underwater mine, killing Pieper. In the
years following the incident, his remains were not recovered or identified.
Pieper’s twin brother, Radioman 2nd Class Ludwig J.
Pieper, was also killed in the attack, but his remains were recovered
after the incident and buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.
Julius will be buried next to his brother.
Recently discovered records show that in September 1961, French
salvage divers dismantled the LST-523 and turned over potential remains
discovered to U.S. authorities. The remains, designated as Unknown X-9352, were
found in the Radio Room of LST-523.
The remains could not be identified and were interred in Ardennes
American Cemetery in Belgium as an Unknown.
After a thorough historical and scientific analysis, it was
determined that X-9352 could likely be identified. After receiving approval, on
April 11, 2017, Unknown X-9352 was disinterred from Ardennes American Cemetery
and sent to DPAA.
To identify Pieper’s remains, DPAA used laboratory analysis,
including dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as
well as circumstantial and material evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, recently accounted-for from the Korean War,
are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Maj. Stephen T. Uurtamo, 32, of
Chicago, accounted for on Sept. 27, 2017, will be buried June 19 in
Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. In late November 1950,
Uurtamo was a member of Headquarters Battery, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Automatic Weapons Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, which was engaged in
persistent attacks with the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) near the
Ch’ongch’on River in North Korea. On Nov. 30, 1950, the Division began to
withdraw south along the Main Supply Route, known as “The Gauntlet.” During the
withdrawal, the 82nd lost many Soldiers, one of whom was Uurtamo who was
declared missing in action as of Dec. 1, 1950, when he could not be accounted
for.
Following the war, several returning American
prisoners of war reported that Uurtamo had been captured and died at the
prisoner of war transient camp, known as Hofong Camp, in North Korea in January
1951. Based on this information, the U.S. Army declared Uurtamo deceased on Jan.
21, 1951.
In April 2005, a joint U.S./Korean People’s Army Recovery team
recovered 32 sets of remains from a site south of Unsan, North Korea. Based on
the recovered material evidence and surrounding conditions, it was determined
this was a secondary burial site.
To identify Uurtamo’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed
Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA), Y-chromosome (Y-STR)
and autosomal (auSTR) DNA analysis, anthropological analysis, as well as
circumstantial evidence.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from the Korean War, are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Sgt. Donald L. Baker, 20, of
Thornton, Arkansas, accounted for on Jan. 25, 2018, will be buried
June 19 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In September 1950, Baker was a member of Company
H, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was
reported missing in action on Sept. 6, 1950, as a result of fighting that
occurred between his unit and enemy forces near Haman, South Korea.
Following the battle, the U.S. Army Graves Registration Services
(AGRS) created Field Search Cases (FSCs) to track unaccounted-for service
members, assigning Baker to FSC 182-F. AGRS teams searched battlefields for
remains and interred recovered remains at temporary cemeteries in South Korea.
FSC 182-F contained 34 associated individuals who corresponded to Baker’s unit.
Because of the lack of evidence to verify identity, some of the remains
recovered in late September 1950 were buried as “Unknowns.”
On January 6, 1951, a set of unidentified remains recovered
southwest of Haman, labeled as “Unknown X-209 Masan,” were interred at United
Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) in Masan, South Korea.
In January 1955, the remains were declared to be unidentifiable
and were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery in the Pacific (NMCP) in
Honolulu, known as the Punchbowl.