“HONOR THE DEAD BY HELPING THE LIVING”
Today, the DPAA is focused on the research, investigation,
recovery, and identification
of the approximately 34,000 (out of approximately 83,000 missing DoD personnel)
believed to be recoverable, who were lost in conflicts
from World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
KHAMMOUANE, Laos --
With
1,586 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,
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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
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.”
Members of
the recovery team attach a POW flag to the wreckage of the
Tulsamerican, a B-24 Liberator piloted by, Lt. Eugene P. Ford, a Derry Township,
Pa. native,
when it crashed into the Adriatic Sea in 1944.
FIELD OPERATIONS IN LAOS AND CAMBODIA, JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 2020
US Ambassador to
Cambodia Patrick Murphy,
prepares to screen dirt during a DPAA recovery mission in Ratanakiri Province,
Cambodia, February 1, 2020.
Mr. Alexander
Garcia-Putnam, right, a senior recovery expert assigned to DPAA,
speaks to US service members and Lao officials during a joint field activity
(JFA) in Khammouan Province, Laos, February 2, 2020
SG Carter Caraker,
USA, a DPAA supply non-commissioned officer,
passes buckets to local workers during a JFA in Khammouan Province, Laos,
February 10, 2020.
During the JFA, a group of more than 70 personnel, assigned to DPAA and
augmented from military units around the globe,
worked together to help fulfill our nation's promise to provide the fullest
possible accounting of our missing personnel.
2021 Recoveries
Underwater Recovery Mission - Vietnam:
U.S. Coast Guard underwater recovery mission in
Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, May 27 2021.
Vietnam Recovery Mission:
U.S. Army DPAA recovery team member, swings a pick axe to loosen dirt during
a recovery mission in Quang Binh province, Vietnam, July 3, 2021.
Vietnam Repatriation Ceremony:
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Detachment 2 and the Vietnam Office for
Seeking
Missing Persons (VNOSMP) held the 155th Repatriation
Ceremony on 9 July 2021 at Gia Lam Airport outside Hanoi, Vietnam.
Repatriation Ceremony – Laos:
Detachment Three-Laos, pause for a photo during the signing of remains turnover
documents
at a Repatriation Ceremony June 22, 2021 in Vientiane, Laos.
Honorable Carry from Laos:
DPAA members conducted an Honorable Carry ceremony on Joint Base Pearl Harbor
Hickam, June 23, 2021.
The remains were recently repatriated to the U.S. during a ceremony in
Vientiane, Laos.
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.
A number of other boats were sunk in the attack, but later
recovered and repaired.
The USS California (BB-44)
lost 100 crew members that morning, after the ship suffered extensive flooding
damage when hit by two torpedoes on the port side.
Both torpedoes detonated below the armor belt causing virtually identical damage
each time.
A 250 kg bomb also entered the starboard upper deck level, which passed through
the main deck and exploded on the armored second deck,
setting off an anti-aircraft ammunition magazine and killing about 50 men.
After three days of flooding, the California settled
into the mud with only her superstructure remaining above the surface.
She was later re-floated and dry-docked at Pearl Harbor for repairs. USS California served
many missions throughout the war,
and was eventually decommissioned in February, 1947.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese bombs fell and
torpedoes slashed through the waters of Pearl Harbor,
causing a devastating amount of damage to the vessels lined up in Battleship Row
in in the dry docks nearby.
Each of the seven battleships moored there suffered some degree of damage, some
far worse than others.
The USS Arizona (BB-39)
and the USS Oklahoma (BB-37)
were completely destroyed. Though the Maryland (BB-46)
was believed by Japan to also have been sunk, she ultimately survived and became
one of the first ships to return to the war.
During the attack on Pearl Harbor, ships like the USS Cassin (DD-372),
a Mahan-class
destroyer, suffered what was originally thought to be fatal damage.
While she was extensively damaged during the attack, she was resurrected and
went on to return to service during the remainder of World War II.
The sunken battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48) at Pearl Harbor after her fires
were out, possibly on 8 December 1941.
USS Tennessee (BB-43) is inboard. A Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane (marked
“4-O-3”) is upside down on West Virginia’s main deck.
A second OS2U is partially burned out atop the Turret No. 3 catapult.
In the aftermath of the attacks on Pearl Harbor during World War Two stories emerged of sailors who were trapped in the sunken battleships, some even survived for weeks.
Those who were trapped underwater banged continuously on the side of the ship so
that anyone would hear them and come to their rescue.
When the noises were first heard many thought it was just loose wreckage or part
of the clean-up operation for the destroyed harbor.
However the day after the attack, crewmen realized that there was an eerie banging noise coming from the forward hull of the USS West Virginia, which had sunk in the harbor.
t didn’t take long for the crew and Marines based at the harbor to realize that
there was nothing they could do. They could not get to these trapped sailors in
time.
Months later rescue and salvage men who raised the USS West Virginia found the
bodies of three men who had found an airlock in a storeroom but had eventually
run out of air.
Survivors say that no one wanted to go on guard duty anywhere near the USS West
Virginia since they would hear the banging of trapped survivors all night long,
but with nothing that could be done.
When salvage crews raised the battleship West Virginia six months after the
Pearl Harbor attacks,
they found the bodies of three sailors huddled in an airtight storeroom —
and a calendar on which 16 days had been crossed off in
red pencil.
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.
The minelayer Oglala technically
didn't suffer a hit on December 7, but a torpedo passed under it and hit the USS
Helena.
The blast from that crippled the old Oglala which
had been built as a civilian vessel in 1906.
The crewmembers took their guns to the Navy Yard Dock and set them up to provide
more defenses.
They also set up a first aid station that saved the lives of West Virginia
crewmembers.
The ship suffered horribly, eventually capsizing and sinking
until just a few feet of the ship's starboard side remained above water.
It was declared lost, and the Navy even considered blowing it up with dynamite
to clear the dock it had sunk next to.
But the decision was made that it could destroy the dock, so the Navy had to
refloat it. At that point, it made sense to dry dock and repair it.
None of the crew of Oglala were killed in the attack, although three received injuries.
Sean Patterson, Armed Forces Medical Examiner System Department
of Defense DNA Quality Management Section DNA Analyst,
replaces U. S. Navy Fireman 1st Class Billy James Johnson's picture background,
signifying him as an identified service member who was previously missing in
action.
Johnson marks the 200th service member to be identified following the December
7, 1941 Pearl Harbor
attack where 429 U.S. Sailors and Marines were killed on the USS Oklahoma
(BB-37).
A
series of large posters hang in the conference room of the Defense POW/MIA
Accounting Agency laboratory located at Offutt Air Base, Nebraska.
The heading on each of the posters states “USS OKLAHOMA.” Underneath the
headings are neat rows of printed rectangular frames.
Each one represents a person who was unaccounted for when the USS Oklahoma was
sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Thanks
to the work of Dr. Brown’s team, the remains of 200 previously unknown crewmen
from the USS Oklahoma
have now been returned to their families for proper burial and their families
have those long-awaited answers.
The story of the USS Oklahoma’s lost crewmen is
an evolving history lesson that began on what
President Franklin D. Roosevelt called
“a date that will live in infamy.”
LIST OF USS OKLAHOMA IDENTIFICATIONS FROM MICHIGAN:
(Please note that in some USS Oklahoma identifications,
the primary next of kin has yet to be notified,
and therefore the names will not be released at this time.)
Seaman Second Class Warren P. Hickok of Kalamazoo, Mich.
Staff Sgt. Joseph M. King, of Detroit, Mich.
Fireman Third Class Gerald G. Lehman, of Hancock, Mich.
Machinist Mate First Class Fred M. Jones, 30 of Port Huron, Michigan
Navy Fireman 2nd Class Lowell E. Valley, 19, of Ontonagon, Michigan,
Navy Seaman 1st Class Robert W. Headington, 19, Bay City, Michigan
Navy Seaman 2nd Class John C. Auld, 23, Grosse Park, Michigan,
Navy Ensign William M. Finnegan, 44, of Bessemer, Michigan,
Navy Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Fred M. Jones, 31, of Otter Lake, Michigan,
Navy Seaman 1st Class Robert W. Headington, 19, of Bay City, Michigan,
Navy Seaman 1st Class Edward Wasielewski, Plymouth, MI
U.S. Naval Reserve Ensign Frances
C. Flaherty, 22, of
Navy Seaman 1st Class Joe R. Nightingale, 20, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Navy Seaman 1st Class Edward Wasielewski, 21, of Detroit,
U.S. Naval Reserve Ensign Francis C. Flaherty, 22, of Charlotte, Michigan,
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Raymond D. Boynton, 19, Grand Rapids, MI
Navy Seaman 1st Class Wilbur F. Ballance, 20, Paw Paw, Michigan
It is through this effort that the accounting community
has been able to honor the sacrifices of the USS Oklahoma Sailors and Marines
and their families who pushed for the fullest possible accounting of their loved
ones.
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.
Breakdown by War - Still Unaccounted for/Unreturned Veterans:
WW I 3,343
WW II 72,784
Korea 7,676
Vietnam 1,584
Cold War 126
Gulf/Other 6
Total 85,519
*As of June 2021
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following
WWII
from MICHIGAN - 2445
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following
Korea
from MICHIGAN - 331
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following
Cold War
from MICHIGAN - 4
Service Personnel Not Recovered Following
Viet Nam
from MICHIGAN - 48
RECENTLY
FOUND
HEROES in 2023
January 30
Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Porter M. Pile,
24 , of Harlingen, Texas, killed during World War II, was accounted
for Nov. 28, 2022.
In September 1944, Pile was assigned to 700th Bombardment
Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group, 2d Air Division, 8th Air Force. On Sept. 27,
the B-24H Liberator bomber on which he was serving as the navigator was part of
a large mission to bomb the industrial city Kassel in northern Hesse, Germany.
During the mission the formation of aircraft encountered heavy resistance from
enemy ground and air forces, which resulted in the rapid loss of 25 Liberators.
Several of the crew aboard Pile’s aircraft were able to bail out, and witnesses
who survived did not report seeing him escape the aircraft. Six of the nine crew
members were killed. His body was not recovered and the Germans never reported
him as a prisoner of war. The War Department issued a finding of death on Sept.
28, 1945.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration
Command (AGRC) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American
personnel in Europe. They discovered the Liberator crash site outside of
Richelsdorf, Germany. An identification tag for one of the missing crew members
was discovered at this site. Two sets of human remains recovered in October 1951
from this excavation were not able to be identified, were designated as X-9070
Liege and X-9071 Liege, and subsequently interred. X-9070 was buried at
Luxembourg American Cemetery in Belgium, while X-9071 had been buried in what is
now North Africa American Cemetery in Tunis, Tunisia, in the 1950’s. Both
cemeteries are registered as American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries.
DPAA historians are conducting ongoing, comprehensive research
focused on air losses over Germany. As a result, they determined X-9070 and
X-9071 to be a strong candidate for association with Pile. X-9070 was
disinterred in April 2018 and X-9071 was disinterred in September 2022 and sent
to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and
identification.
Pile’s name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge
American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in England,
along with the others still missing from World War II.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he
has been accounted for.
Pile will be buried on a date that has yet to be determined in
Arlington National Cemetery.
January 3
Navy Warrant Officer Machinist Daryl H.
Goggin, 34, of Everett, Washington killed during World War II, was
accounted for on Oct. 10, 2015.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Goggin 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 Goggin.
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 Goggin.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS
Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Goggin’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental
and anthropological analysis.
Goggin’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Goggin will be buried on Aug. 18, 2023 at the Punchbowl.
U.S. Army Cpl. Alton Christie, 18, of
Jasper, Florida killed during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In July 1950, Christie was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion,
21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in
action on July 5 after his unit has been engaged by the Korean People’s Army
near Osan, South Korea. There is no indication his remains were recovered after
the battle and he was never recorded as a prisoner of war. The Army issued a
presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953, and his remains were determined
to be nonrecoverable in January 1956.
In October 1950, 20 sets of remains were recovered near Osan.
Seven were interred as Unknowns. One set of remains, designated X-214 Taejon,
was thought to be Christie, but investigators at the Central Identification
Unit-Kokura in Japan didn’t have enough identifying data to positively ID the
remains. X-214 was later transported with all of the unidentified Korean War
remains and buried as an Unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In December 2014, Christie’s next of kin contacted the Army and
requested the disinterment of X-214 as a potential association with Christie.
The remains were disinterred on March 7, 2016, and transferred to the DPAA
Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii for analysis.
Christie’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Christie will be buried in Jasper, Florida on a date yet to be
determined.
U.S. Army Pfc. Ithiel E. Whatley, 19, of
Pensacola, Florida, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean
War, was accounted for Sept. 7, 2022.
In the summer of 1950, Whatley was a member of M Company, 3rd
Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was reported
missing in action on July 12 after this unit was engaged in a fighting
withdrawal south of Chochi’won, South Korea, towards the Kum River. While it is
possible Whatley was captured, there was no record or eyewitness accounts of him
being held as a prisoner of war, and no recovered remains were ever identified
as him. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Jan. 4, 1954 and
declared Whatley non-recoverable in January 1956.
On Oct. 6, 1950, a set of remains, designated X-143 Taejon, was
recovered from the Kum River and transported to the United Nations Military
Cemetery Taejon, where they were buried with 164 sets of remains previously
recovered from the area where Whatley is believed to have gone missing. X-143
was sent with other unidentified remains to the Central Identification Unit –
Kokura in Japan in 1951, but was unable to be identified. They were then
transported to Hawaii in 1956 where they were buried at the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as Punchbowl Cemetery, with the other
Unknowns from the Korean War.
In July 2019, during Phase 2 of DPAA’s Korean War Disinterment
Project, X-143 Taejon was disinterred from the Punchbowl and transferred to the
DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.
Whatley’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Whatley will be buried on a date not yet determined, in
Pensacola, Florida.
U.S. Army Sgt. Charles Garrigus, 24,
of Terra Haute, Indiana, killed during the Korean War, was
accounted for Aug. 2, 2022.
In late 1950, Garrigus was a member of Headquarters and
Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry
Division. He was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, during battle with
enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. Following the battle,
his remains could not be recovered, and there is no evidence that he was
ever a prisoner of war.
On July 27, 2018, following the summit between President
Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018, North
Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of American
service members killed during the Korean War. The remains arrived at Joint
Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently
accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for identification.
To identify Garrigus’s remains, scientists from DPAA used
anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally,
scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial
DNA (myDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Garrigus’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments
Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others
who are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Garrigus will be buried in Greenwood, Indiana, on date yet to be
determined.
January 20
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Frederick R. Schrader,
31, of Lawrenceville, Illinois, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In October 1944, Schrader was the commander of Carrier Air Group
Eleven on the USS Hornet. The Hornet was one of 17 aircraft carriers to take
part in the Battle of Formosa Oct. 12-15. On Oct. 13, Schrader’s F6F-5 Hellcat
fighter was shot down during an attack on Toko Seaplane Base on Formosa, now
know as Taiwan. His wingman never saw a parachute or any evidence Schrader was
able to exit the aircraft before it crashed. No rescue attempt was possible
because the crash happened in enemy territory.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration
Service (AGRS) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American
personnel in the Pacific Theater. They searched Formosa for one year, but none
of the remains they recovered could be identified as Schrader. He was declared
non-recoverable in 1949.
In April 2019, DPAA was contacted by Matthew Robins, an
independent researcher and former Naval flight officer. His research pointed to
a possible correlation between Schrader and X-136 Schofield, a WWII Unknown
recovered from Formosa and buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. Further research by DPAA
analysts found more evidence linking the two. X-136 was disinterred from the
Punchbowl on Aug. 11, 2022, and taken to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl
Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.
To identify Schrader’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Schrader’s name is recorded on the Walls of the
Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, an American
Battle Monuments Commission site
in the Philippines,
along with the others missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Schrader will be buried April 13, 2023 at the Punchbowl.
January 20
U.S. Army Cpl. Franklin H. Bennett, 20,
of Glendive, Montana, who was captured and
died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for.
In late 1941, Bennett was a member of the 54th Signal Maintenance
Company, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December.
Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan
peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps. Bennett was among those reported captured when U.S.
forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the
Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical
records, Bennett died July 19, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased
prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 312.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS)
personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the
remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS
examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Twelve sets of remains from
Common Grave 312 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable. The
unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM)
as Unknowns.
In early 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 312 were
disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,
Hawaii, for analysis.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Bennett’s grave was
meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments
Commission (ABMC).
Corporal Bennett is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at
the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Bennett will be buried on a date yet to be determined, in
Pensacola, Florida.
In late 1950, De Anda was a member of G Company, 2nd Battalion,
23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, 8th U.S. Army.
He was reported missing in action on Nov. 30, 1950, after his unit attempted to withdraw from Kunu-ri, North Korea, on Nov. 30, following the Battle of Ch’ongch’on.
He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in North Korea on November 30, 1950 and died while a prisoner on March 15, 1951.
In 1953, two POWs who returned during Operation Big Switch reported De Anda had been a prisoner of war and died in March 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #5.
January 19
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. George J. Reuter, 25, Hampton City, Virginia, killed during World War II, was accounted for.
He was killed in action on Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Reuter was serving as the navigator was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania.
His remains were not identified following the war.
January 19
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. James A. Deeds, 23, CA. killed during World War II, was accounted for.
First Lieutenant Deeds entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from
Mississippi and served in the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment
Group. On August 1, 1943.
Deeds was assigned to the 345th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy),
98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24
Liberator bomber piloted by Deeds was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and
crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil
fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania.
His remains were not identified following the war.
First Lieutenant Deeds is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the North Africa American Cemetery in Tunis, Tunisia.
January 18
U.S. Army Pfc. Mark P. Wilson, 20, of
Elizabethton, Tennessee killed during World War II, was accounted
for.
In November 1944, Wilson was assigned to Company A, 1st
Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. His battalion had
been tasked with holding the town of Kommerscheidt, Germany, in the Hürtgen
Forest, when he was reported missing in action on Nov. 8.
His body unable to be recovered, and the Germans never reported
him as a prisoner of war. He was declared killed in action after the war.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration
Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel
in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between
1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Wilson’s remains. He was
declared non-recoverable in November 1951.
While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a
DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated
X-5433 Neuville, recovered Kommerscheidt in April 1947, possibly belonged to
Wilson. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American
Battle Monuments Commission site
in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, in 1949, were disinterred in July 2021 and sent
to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.
Wilson’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the
Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an American
Battle Monuments Commission site
in Plombières, Belgium,
along with the others still missing from World War II.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Wilson will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date
yet to be determined.
Airman
January 17
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Melvin B.
Meyer, 25, of Pattonville, Missouri, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In May 1944, Meyer was assigned to the 569th Bombardment
Squadron, 390th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 13th Bombardment Wing, 3rd Air
Division, 8th Air Force. He was the bombardier of a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber
during a huge bombing mission over Leipzig, Germany, on May 29. Enemy fighters
attacked the bomber’s formation roughly 28 miles northeast Leipzig, and the
plane was shot down. Six of the 10 crew members were able to escape the plane
before it crashed near Horst, while the rest, including Meyer, were killed.
Bodies recovered from the crash were believed to have been buried in a local
cemetery. After the war ended, there was no evidence of Meyer being a prisoner
of war or having survived, so a Finding of Death was issued a year after the
crash.
The American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was charged with
recovering the remains of fallen service members in the European Theater
following the war. They were able to find the remains of one of the crew members
buried in a cemetery in Horst during a search in September 1946. After 1950,
worsening diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, who controlled this part
of Germany at the time, prevented the AGRC from investigating further. Meyer was
declared non-recoverable on April 21, 1953.
In July 2012, an investigation team from the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command, a DPAA predecessor organization, found the crash site and
recovered evidence of a B-17 crash. In 2015, DPAA received permission from the
land-owner to excavate. DPAA contracted History Flight, Inc. to excavate the
site, which they did between July 17 and Aug. 12, 2019. They recovered possible
material evidence and possible remains, which was first turned over to the local
authorities and then sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base,
Nebraska, for scientific analysis.
Meyer’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the
Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an American
Battle Monuments Commission site
in Hombourg, Belgium,
along with the others still missing from World War II.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Meyer will be buried in St. Louis, Missouri on a date yet to be
determined.
Pilot
January 12
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Carl D.
Nesbitt, 23, of Lima, Ohio, killed during World War II, was accounted
for.
In May 1944, Nesbitt was assigned to the 569th Bombardment
Squadron, 390th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 13th Bombardment Wing, 3rd Air
Division, 8th Air Force. He was the pilot of a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber
during a huge bombing mission over Leipzig, Germany, on May 29. Enemy fighters
attacked the bomber’s formation roughly 28 miles northeast Leipzig, and the
plane was shot down. Six of the 10 crew members were able to escape the plane
before it crashed near Horst, while the rest, including Nesbitt, were killed.
Bodies recovered from the crash were believed to have been buried in a local
cemetery. After the war ended, there was no evidence of Nesbitt being a prisoner
of war or having survived, so a Finding of Death was issued a year after the
crash.
The American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was charged with
recovering the remains of fallen service members in the European Theater
following the war. They were able to find the remains of one of the crew members
buried in a cemetery in Horst during a search in September 1946. After 1950,
worsening diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, who controlled this part
of Germany at the time, prevented the AGRC from investigating further. Nesbitt
was declared non-recoverable on April 21, 1953.
In July 2012, an investigation team from the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command, a DPAA predecessor organization, found the crash site and
recovered evidence of a B-17 crash. In 2015, DPAA received permission from the
land-owner to excavate. DPAA contracted History Flight, Inc. to excavate the
site, which they did between July 17 and Aug. 12, 2019. They recovered possible
material evidence and possible remains, which was first turned over to the local
authorities and then sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base,
Nebraska, for scientific analysis.
Nesbitt’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site
in Hombourg, Belgium, along with the others still missing from World War II.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Nesbitt will be buried on May 15, 2023, in Annville,
Pennsylvania.
U.S. Army Pfc. Thomas F. Green, 19, of
Ramona, California, killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for.
In October 1971, Green was assigned to the 68th Aviation Company,
52nd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group. On Oct. 26, Green was serving as
the door gunner on a CH-47B Chinook helicopter when it went down over water in
bad weather while flying from Tuy Hoa to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam.
Remains of four of the 10 Soldiers on board were recovered during
search and rescue operations following the crash, but Green was not accounted
for.
An unsuccessful recovery attempt was made in 1974 when divers
from the Joint Casualty Resolution Center dove on what was believed to be the
crash site. A number of investigation and recovery efforts took place between
1994 and 2021 with a June 2021 recovery mission finding possible human remains
and material evidence.
Green’s name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans
Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the American Battle Monuments Commission’s
Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in
Honolulu, along with others who are unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Green’s will be buried in Ramona, California on Feb. 23, 2023.
January 6
U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Harold
Kretzer, 32, of Odin, Illinois, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Kretzer was assigned to the 66th
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force. On
Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber on which Kretzer was a gunner-engineer
was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the
largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north
of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following the war. The
remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section
of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel,
disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.
The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and
those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle
American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated
with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were
sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination
and identification.
Kretzer’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 others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he
has been accounted for.
Kretzer will be buried in Springfield, Illinois on a date yet to
be determined.
January 6
U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnanceman First Class Anthony Di Petta, 24, from N.J. was killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In the fall of 1944, Di Petta was the Aviation Ordnanceman
assigned to the Navy Torpedo Squadron 20, USS Enterprise. On Sept. 10, Di Petta
and two other crew members abroad the TBM-1C Avenger Bureau Number, 17018 took
off from the USS Enterprise on a mission to conduct air strikes against enemy
targets in Malakal Naval District, Palau Islands.
Their aircraft was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed into water near Malakal.
Efforts to recover Di Petta’s remains were unsuccessful.
Aviation Ordnanceman First Class Di Petta is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
January 3
Navy Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Herman
Schmidt, 28, of Sheridan, Wyoming, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Schmidt 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 Schmidt.
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 Schmidt.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS
Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
Schmidt’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Schmidt will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, on a date
yet to be determined.
Navy Fire Controlman 2nd Class Donald R.
McCloud, 21, of Monaville, West Virginia, killed during World War II,
was accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, McCloud 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 McCloud.
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 McCloud.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS
Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
McCloud’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
McCloud will be buried on June 24, 2023, in Dingess, West
Virginia.
Navy Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Lorentz
E. Hultgren, 23 of Tacoma, Washington, killed during World War II,
was accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Hultgren 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 Hultgren.
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 Hultgren.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS
Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
Hultgren’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Hultgren will be buried on January 9, 2023, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Navy Seaman 2nd Class David J. Riley,
25, of Juda, Wisconsin, killed during World War II, was accounted
for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Riley 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 Riley.
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 Riley.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS
Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
Riley’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Riley will be buried on May 27, 2023, in Juda, Wisconsin.
Navy Fire Controlman 3rd Class William F. Gusie, 19, killed during World War II, was accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Gusie 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 Gusie.
Gusie’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Airman
U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Ralph E.
Richardson, Jr., 21, of Columbia, South Carolina, killed during World
War II, was accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Richardson was assigned to the 329th
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On
Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber on which Richardson was the radio
operator was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL
WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at
Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following
the war. The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the
Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova,
Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel,
disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.
The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and
those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle
American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated
with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were
sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination
and identification.
Richardson’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 others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Richardson will be buried in Columbia, South Carolina on a date
yet to be determined.
Pilot
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Roy C.
Harms, 26, of Grafton, Wisconsin, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Harms was assigned to the 329th
Bombardment Squadron, 93rd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943,
the B-24 Liberator bomber Harms was piloting was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire
and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the
oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains
were not identified following the war. The remains that could not be identified
were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military
Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel,
disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.
The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and
those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle
American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated
with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were
sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination
and identification.
Harms’ 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 others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Harms will be buried in Grafton, Wisconsin on date yet to be
determined.
Airman
Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Michael
Uhrin, 21, of Metuchen, New Jersey, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In October 1943, Uhrin was assigned to 369th Bombardment
Squadron, 306th Bombardment Group, 40th Combat Wing, 8th Air Force in the
European Theater. On Oct. 14, the B-17F Flying Fortress bomber on which he was
serving as the radio operator was flying a mission to Schweinfurt, Germany, when
it was shot down by enemy fighters near Rommelhausen and Langenbergheim, Hessen,
Germany. Uhrin’s bomber was one of 60 aircraft to be lost during the mission.
The surviving B-17 crew members said Uhrin was killed before the plane crashed,
and none witnessed him bail out. His death was confirmed shortly after the
crash, but there is no record of his burial location.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration
Command (AGRC) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American
personnel in Europe. They conducted investigations around Rommelhausen and
Langenbergheim, but couldn’t find any concrete evidence associating recovered
remains with Uhrin. He was declared non-recoverable in April 1955.
DPAA historians are conducting ongoing, comprehensive research
focused on air losses over Germany. As a result, one set of remains, designated
X-1660 St. Avold, was determined to be a strong candidate for association with
Uhrin. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an
American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery in Belgium, were disinterred in
June 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska,
for examination and identification.
Uhrin’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Cambridge
American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in the United
Kingdom, along with the others still missing from World War II.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Uhrin will be buried in Matuchen, New Jersey on date yet to be
determined.
U.S. Army Pfc. James L. Miller, 21, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In late 1950, Miller was a member of K Company, 3rd Battalion,
24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. Miller and the 24th Infantry
Regiment took part in the unsuccessful defense of the town of Sangju in July
1950.
He was reported killed in action on July 30, while fighting with the North Korean forces. Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered, and there is no evidence that he was ever a prisoner of war.
Miller was declared nonrecoverable on Jan. 16, 1956.
Army Pfc. William L. Simon, 20, Wisconsin killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In November 1944, Simon was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion,
109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division.
His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Hürtgen,
Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was reported killed in action on Nov. 5.
Following the battle,
his remains could not be recovered, and there is no evidence that he was ever a
prisoner of war.
Airman
U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Theodore F.
Scarborough, 21, of Brooklyn, Mississippi, killed during World War
II, was accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Scarborough was assigned to the 345th
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On
Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber on which Scarborough was the bombardier
was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the
largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north
of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following the war. The
remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section
of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel,
disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.
The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and
those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle
American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated
with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were
sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination
and identification.
Scarborough’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
North African American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in
Tunis, Tunisia,
along with others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Scarborough will be buried in Brooklyn, Mississippi on April 21,
2023.
U.S. Army Pfc. Arthur L. Pierce, 26, of
Malden, Massachusetts who was captured and
died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for.
In late 1941, Pierce was a member of the 803rd Engineer Battalion
in the Philippines, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in
December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula
on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps. Pierce was among those reported captured when U.S. forces
in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan
Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs
perished in this camp during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical
records, Pierce died July 19, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased
prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 312.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS)
personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the
remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS
examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Twelve of the sets of
remains from Common Grave 312 were identified, but the rest were declared
unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American
Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.
In January 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 312
were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,
Hawaii, for analysis.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Pierce’s grave was
meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments
Commission (ABMC).
Pierce will be buried in Augusta, Maine, on a
date yet to be determined.
U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. Joseph E.
Lescaut, 21, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was captured and
died as a prisoner of war during World War II,
was accounted for.
In late 1941, Lescaut was a member of the 16th Bombardment
Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine
Islands in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the
Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps. Lescaut was among those reported captured when U.S.
forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile
Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500
POWs perished in this camp during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical
records, Lescaut died July 26, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased
prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 225.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS)
personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the
remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS
examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Three of the sets of
remains from Common Grave 225 were identified, but the rest were declared
unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American
Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.
In March 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 225 were
disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,
Hawaii, for analysis.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Lescaut’s grave was
meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments
Commission (ABMC).
Lescaut will be buried in Arlington National
Cemetery, on a date yet to be determined.
December 1
Army Pfc. Dale D. Thompson, 18, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In late 1950, Thompson was a member of Heavy Mortar Company, 32nd
Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on
Dec. 2, 1950, during battle with enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir, North
Korea.
Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered, and there is no evidence that he was never a prisoner of war.
U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. William Scott, 21, Passaie, N.J. killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Scott was assigned to the 68th Bombardment
Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force.
On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Scott was serving as the navigator was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania.
His remains were not identified following the war.
The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. John M.
Carroll, 32, of New York, New York, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Carroll was assigned to the 328th
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On
Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber on which Carroll was the radio operator
was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the
largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north
of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following the war. The
remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section
of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel,
disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.
The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and
those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle
American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated
with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were
sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination
and identification.
Carroll’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 others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he
has been accounted for.
Carroll will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date
yet to be determined.
U.S. Army Sgt. Allen H. Tuttle, 23, of
Tacoma, Washington, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean
War, was accounted for.
In late 1950, Tuttle was a member of C Battery, 38th Field
Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, 8th U.S. Army. He was reported
missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, after his unit attempted to withdraw from
Kunu-ri, North Korea, on Nov. 30, following the Battle of Ch’ongch’on.
In 1953, 12 POWs who returned during Operation
Big Switch reported Tuttle had been a prisoner of war and died in March 1951 at
Prisoner of War Camp #5.
In the late summer and fall of 1954, during Operation Glory,
North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, also known as
Prisoner of War Camp #5, to the United Nations Command. None were associated
with Tuttle.
One set of remains disinterred from Camp #5 returned during
Operation Glory was designated Unknown X-14836 and buried at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War
Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In December 2019, the DPAA disinterred Unknown
X-14836 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the
remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for
analysis.
Tuttle’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments
Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who
are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Tuttle will be buried on Dec. 16, 2022 in Bellevue, Washington.
Airman
U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Wayne L.
Dyer, 22, of Hobart, Oklahoma killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In May 1944, Dyer was assigned to the 569th Bombardment Squadron,
390th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 13th Bombardment Wing, 3rd Air Division, 8th
Air Force. He was the navigator of a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber during a huge
bombing mission over Leipzig, Germany, on May 29. Enemy fighters attacked the
bomber’s formation roughly 28 miles northeast Leipzig, and the plane was shot
down. Six of the 10 crew members were able to escape the plane before it crashed
near Horst, while the rest, including Dyer, were killed. Bodies recovered from
the crash were believed to have been buried in a local cemetery. After the war
ended, there was no evidence of Dyer being a prisoner of war or having survived,
so a Finding of Death was issued a year after the crash.
The American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was charged with
recovering the remains of fallen service members in the European Theater
following the war. They were able to find the remains of one of the crew members
buried in a cemetery in Horst during a search in September 1946. After 1950,
worsening diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, who controlled this part
of Germany at the time, prevented the AGRC from investigating further. Dyer was
declared non-recoverable on April 21, 1953.
In July 2012, an investigation team from the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command, a DPAA predecessor organization, found the crash site and
recovered evidence of a B-17 crash. In 2015, DPAA received permission from the
land-owner to excavate. DPAA contracted History Flight, Inc. to excavate the
site, which they did between July 17 and Aug. 12, 2019. They recovered possible
material evidence and possible remains, which was first turned over to the local
authorities and then sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base,
Nebraska, for scientific analysis.
Dyer’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site
in Hombourg, Belgium, along with the others still missing from World War II.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Dyer will be buried on a date yet to be determined, in Killeen,
Texas.
U.S. Army Cpl. Joseph H. Gunnoe, 21, of
Charleston, West Virginia, killed during World War II, was accounted
for.
In November 1944, Gunnoe was assigned to Company G, 112th
Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. His unit captured the town of
Vossenack, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, on Nov. 2 and held it against
constant German artillery and small arms fire, until finally forced to withdraw
on Nov. 6. Due to the circumstances of the battle, Company G was not able to
take a full accounting of the survivors until days after the fighting.
Gunnoe was among the missing. Survivors had no information
regarding his fate. The Army reported him missing in action as of Nov. 9. Graves
registration teams did not recover or identify his body after the battle, and
the Germans never reported him as a prisoner of war. He was declared killed in
action after the war.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration
Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel
in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between
1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Gunnoe’s remains. He was
declared non-recoverable in October 1951.
While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a
DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated
X-2775 Neuville, recovered near Vossenack in June 1946, possibly belonged to
Gunnoe. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an
American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, in
1949, were disinterred in July 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt
Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.
Gunnoe’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at
Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in
Margraten, Netherlands, along with the others still missing from World War II.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Gunnoe will be buried on Dec. 14, 2022, in Charleston, West
Virginia.
U.S. Army Pfc. Robert A. Wright, 18, of
Whitesville, KY, who was killed during the Korean War, was accounted
for.
In July 1950, Wright was a member of C Company, 1st Battalion,
19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action during
fighting along the Kum River near Taejon, South Korea, on July 16. Due to the
fighting, his body could not be recovered at that time, and there was never any
evidence that he was a prisoner of war.
The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.
After regaining control of Taejon in the fall of 1950, the Army
began recovering remains from the area and temporarily interring them at the
United Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) Taejon. One set of remains recovered
during this period was designated Unknown X-296 Taejon. After extensive analysis
by the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan was unable to identify X-296,
the remains were declared unidentifiable. They were later sent to Hawaii where
they were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the
Punchbowl, in Honolulu, with other Korean War Unknowns.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War
Unknowns from the Punchbowl. On June 10, 2019, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-296 as
part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to
the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.
Wright’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Wright will be buried on Dec. 10, 2022, in Whitesville, KY.
U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Walter
Nies, 23, of Eureka, South Dakota, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In the winter of 1944, Nies was assigned to the 96th Bombardment
Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 15th Air Force. On January 24, he was
the tail gunner aboard a B-17F Flying Fortress bomber that was part bombardment
mission to Sofia, Bulgaria. German fighters attacked the B-17’s formation over
Yugoslavia while it was attempting to return to its home base in Italy. The
attack was largely ineffectual, but Nies’ aircraft began having engine trouble
shortly after and was forced to crash land on a beach near Ulcinj, Montenegro.
The crew was captured by the Germans and all of the enlisted men, including Nies, were sent to Stalag Luft 6, a prisoner of war camp in Heydekrug, Germany.
Nies was one of only three Americans who died in that POW camp. He died May 28 after being shot.
German
reports said he was trying to escape, but U.S. prisoner testimony following the
war claimed he had been shot while on his way to the latrine in the early
morning before the prisoners’ nightly lockdown had been lifted.
After the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in
the European Theater, was unable to recover the three Americans’ remains because
Stalag Luft 6, now inside Lithuania because of post-war border shifting, was
deep inside the Soviet occupation zone. In 1948, the AGRC provided a list of
Americans whose remains were believed to be in Soviet territory to the Soviet
government, but Nies’ remains couldn’t be identified. The AGRC provided
additional information on Nies to the Soviets in 1950, but by September 1951, he
could still not be found. He was declared non-recoverable on March 25, 1954.
After Lithuania became independent in 1992, the U.S.-Russia Joint
Commission on POW/MIAs requested the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius look into Nies’
case. They discovered the Soviet Union destroyed Stalag Luft 6 in 1955 and
reverted the area to farmland. In 2006, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting
Command (JPAC), a DPAA predecessor, and the Joint Commission Support
Directorate, investigated the site and recommended excavation. However,
significant issues prevented them from sending a recovery team. Around this
time, the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), also a DPAA predecessor,
found several new sources of information pertaining to the case at the National
Archives.
Nies’ name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at
Luxembourg American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC)
site in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg,
along with others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Nies will be buried on date yet to be determined, in Eureka, SD.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. James Rotunno, 27,
of Brooklyn, New York, killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In January 1945, Rotunno was assigned to Company K, 3rd
Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. The unit was engaged
with German forces during the Battle of Reipertswiller in France and was
surrounded, along with four other companies. The surrounded companies were given
the order to attempt a break-out on Jan. 20, but only two men made it through
German lines.
The rest were either captured or killed. Rotunno was among those
killed in the aftermath on Jan. 21, but his body could not be recovered because
of the fighting.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in
the European Theater, searched the area around Reipertswiller, finding 37
unidentified sets of American remains, none of which could be identified as
Rotunno. He was declared non-recoverable on Oct. 11, 1951.
DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into
Soldiers missing from combat around Reipertswiller, and found that X-6049 St.
Avold, which had been buried at Lorraine American Cemetery, an American Battle
Monuments Commission site in St. Avold, France, could be associated with
Rotunno. X-6049 was disinterred in June 2021 and transferred to the DPAA
Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.
Rotunno’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal
American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Dinozé,
France,
along with others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Rotunno will be buried on a date yet to be determined, in
Rutherford, New Jersey.
U.S. Army Pfc. Francis P. Martin, 25, of
Scranton, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted
for.
In January 1945, Martin was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion,
157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. The unit had penetrated the
German lines near Reipertswiller, France, which left its flanks open to German
forces. On Jan. 16, Martin was on a truck convoy bringing rations to the front
lines. The convoy was ambushed, and Martin was not among the men who escaped.
Over the next few days, the Germans surrounded the 157th forces,
preventing any search for Martin or the recovery of his body. With no evidence
in captured German records that he survived the ambush or was held as a prisoner
of war, the War Department issued a finding of death on Jan. 17, 1946.
Beginning in 1947, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in
the European Theater, searched the area around Reipertswiller, finding 37
unidentified sets of American remains, but it was unable to identify any of them
as Martin. He was declared non-recoverable on Oct. 15, 1951.
DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into
Soldiers missing from combat around Reipertswiller, and found that Unknown
X-6373 Neuville, buried at Henri-Chappelle American Cemetery, an American Battle
Monuments Commission site near Liège, Belgium, could be associated with Martin.
X-6373 was disinterred in August 2021 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at
Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.
Martin’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal
American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Dinozé,
France,
along with others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Martin will be buried on a date to be determined, in Arlington
National Cemetery.
U.S. Army Cpl. Tommie T. Hanks, 27, of
Fort Worth, Texas, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In late 1950, Hanks was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion,
24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, 8th Army. He was reported
missing in action on Nov. 26, while his unit was attempting to withdraw from
east of the Ch’ongch’on Rver near Anju, North Korea.
Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered, and
there is no evidence that he was ever a prisoner of war. Hanks was declared
nonrecoverable on Jan. 16, 1956.
North Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the
remains of American service members killed during the Korean War.
The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on
Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for
identification.
Hanks’ name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments
Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific in Honolulu,
along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Hanks will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, on a date
yet to be determined.
November 8
U.S. Army Reserve Chief Warrant Officer 3 Larry A. Zich, 24, Lancaster County, Nebraska killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for.
In April 1972, Zich was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters
Detachment, 37th Signal Battalion, 1st Signal Brigade.
On April 3, a UH-1H Iroquois (tail number 68-16330, call sign "Cavalier 70") with a crew of four, including Zich as the co-pilot. The team departed from Marble Mountain, Da Nang, South Vietnam, on a combat support mission to Quang Tri City, South Vietnam.
During the flight, the pilot told a Hue/Phu Bai Ground Control Approach (GCA) controller that he was lost, and believed they were near Quang Tri.
Following the transmission, the GCA controller could not locate the helicopter on the radar, and reported the team missing.
When the helicopter failed to appear at any of the air bases in South Vietnam, an aerial search was initiated but found no sign of the missing aircraft or crew.
Larry Alfred Zich is memorialized at Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. David
E. Holeman, 39, of Le Harpe, Kansas, who was captured and died as a
prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for.
In late 1941, Holeman was a member of the 17th Pursuit Squadron,
24th Pursuit Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in
December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula
on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps.
Holeman was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and
then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp
during the war.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS)
personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the
remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS
examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Twelve sets of remains from
Common Grave 312 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable. The
unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM)
as Unknowns.
In early 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 312 were
disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,
Hawaii, for analysis.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Holeman’s grave was
meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments
Commission (ABMC).
David E Holeman is memorialized at Tablets of the Missing at
Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.
Holeman will be buried April 23, 2023, in Independence, Kansas.
U.S. Army Pvt. James R. Tash, 20, of St.
Louis, Missouri, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war
during World War II, was accounted for.
In late 1941, Tash was a member of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 31st
Infantry Regiment, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in
December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula
on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps.
Tash was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp.
More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS)
personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the
remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS
examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Twelve sets of remains from
Common Grave 312 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable. The
unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM)
as Unknowns.
In early 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 312 were
disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,
Hawaii, for analysis.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Tash’s grave was
meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments
Commission (ABMC).
in Common Grave 312.
Tash will be buried in St. Louis, Missouri on a date yet to be
determined.
U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Charles W. Eeds, 23, Durant, Oklahoma who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for.
In late 1941, Eeds was a member of the 48th Materiel Squadron, in
the Philippines, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in
December.
Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan
peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps.
Eeds was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp.
More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical records, Eeds died
July 19, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local
Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery
in Common Grave 312.
Corporal Eeds is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
U.S. Army Sgt. Alfred H. Sidney, 23, of
Littleton, New Hampshire who was killed during the Korean War, was
accounted for.
In May 1951, Sidney was a member of H Company, 2nd Battalion,
23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action
on May 18, after his unit was attacked near Hangye, South Korea. In 1953, a POW
who returned during Operation Little Switch reported Sidney had been a prisoner
of war and died in July 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #1.
In the late summer and fall of 1954, during Operation Glory,
North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered Prisoner of War Camp #1 to the
United Nations Command. None were associated with Sidney.
One set of remains disinterred from Camp #1 returned during
Operation Glory was designated Unknown X-14144 and buried at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War
Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In February 2020, the DPAA disinterred Unknown
X-14144 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the
remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for
analysis.
Sidney’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments
Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who
are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Sidney will be buried at Littleton, New Hampshire, on a date to
be determined.
U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. John W. Ropp, 31,
from California
who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War
II, was accounted for.
In late 1941, Ropp was a member of the 2nd Observance Squadron in
the Philippines, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in
December.
Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan
peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps.
Ropp was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then
held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp
during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical records,
Ropp died July 28, 1942, and was buried along with other
deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery
in Common Grave 215.
Private Ropp is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Airman
Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. James M. Triplett, 36, from Washington State killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In September 1944, Triplett was assigned to 700th Bombardment
Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group, 2d Air Division, 8th Air Force.
On Sept. 27, the B-24H Liberator bomber on which he was serving as a radio operator was part of a large mission to bomb the industrial city Kassel in northern Hesse, Germany.
During the mission the formation of aircraft encountered heavy resistance from enemy ground and air forces, which resulted in the rapid loss of 25 Liberators.
Several of the crew aboard Triplett’s aircraft were able to bail out, and witnesses who survived did not report seeing him escaping the aircraft.
Six of the nine crew members were killed. His body unable to be recovered and the Germans never reported him as a prisoner of war.
The War Department issued finding of death on Sept. 28, 1945.
Memorialized at Luxembourg American Cemetery 50, Val du Scheid 2517 Luxembourg Luxembourg.
U.S. Army Sgt. Allen H. Tuttle, 23, Buffalo, New York who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In late 1950, Tuttle was a member of C Battery, 38th Field
Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, 8th U.S. Army.
He was reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, after his unit attempted to withdraw from Kunu-ri, North Korea, on Nov. 30, following the Battle of Ch’ongch’on.
In 1953, 12 POWs who returned during Operation Big Switch reported Tuttle had been a prisoner of war and died in March 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #5.
Airman
U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L.
Pickup, 27, of Provo, Utah, killed during World War II, was accounted
for.
In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group
(Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was
a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to
Chabua, Assam, India.
The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad
weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS),
the military unit responsible for investigating and recovering missing American
personnel in the Pacific Theater, attempted to reach the reported crash site in
March and November 1947, but were unsuccessful. In December that year, the AGRS
determined reaching the site was too dangerous and the remains of the crew,
including Pickup, be declared non-recoverable.
In 2008 and 2010, a third-party wreck hunter located and visited
the crash site and reported seeing aircraft wreckage, military equipment, and
possible human remains. In March 2014, the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu,
Hawaii, confirmed wreckage photographs taken at the site in 2010 were consistent
with a B-24. In August 2019, Abor Country, an Indian travel and expedition
company, successfully reached the site, documented and recovered evidence, and
recovered possible human remains, which they turned over to DPAA partner
Southeastern Archaeological Research (SEARCH), who was performing a DPAA
recovery mission in India at the time. The items were then turned over to the
Indian government. The COVID pandemic caused a delay in the evidence and
possible remains being repatriated to the U.S., which finally was able to happen
in March 2022.
Pickup’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, along with others still missing from
WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Pickup will be buried on Dec. 17, 2022, in Provo, Utah.
Soldier
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Sanford I. Finger,
29, of Miami Beach, Florida, killed during the Vietnam War, was
accounted for.
In October 1971, Finger was assigned to the U.S. Army Element
Vietnam, Army Air Force Regional Exchange, Pacific Exchange (Manager of the An
Son Post Exchange), U.S. Army Headquarters Area Command. On Oct. 26, Finger was
lost when the CH-47B Chinook helicopter on which he was a passenger went down
over water in bad weather while flying from Tuy Hoa to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam.
Remains of four of the 10 Soldiers on board were recovered during search and
rescue operations following the crash, but Finger was not accounted for.
An unsuccessful recovery attempt was made in 1974 when divers
from the Joint Casualty Resolution Center dove on what was believed to be the
crash site. A number of investigation and recovery efforts took place between
1994 and 2021 with a June 2021 recovery mission finding possible human remains
and material evidence.
To identify Finger’s remains, scientists from DPAA used
anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence.
Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Finger’s name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans
Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the American Battle Monuments Commission’s
Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in
Honolulu, along with others who are unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Finger’s burial date and location is yet to be determined.
U.S. Army Sgt. Howard G. Malcolm, 23, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted-for.
In late 1950, Malcolm was a member of Headquarters Company, 9th
Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.
He was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950, after his unit’s withdrawal from Kunu-ri to Sunchon, North Korea.
In 1953, several POWs returned during Operation BIG SWITCH reported Malcolm had been a prisoner of war and died in August 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #5.
U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Zelwood A.
Gravlin, 21, New Vineyard, Maine, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Gravlin was assigned to the 343rd
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On
Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Gravlin was serving as the
armorer-gunner was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation
TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at
Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following
the war.
The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns
in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti,
Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel,
disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.
The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and
those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle
American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated
with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were
sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination
and identification.
Gravlin’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 others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Gravlin will be buried on Nov. 11, 2022, in Avon, Maine.
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Floyd F. Clifford,
20, of Mulvane, Kansas, killed during World War II, was accounted
for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Clifford 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 Allison.
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 Clifford.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS
Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
Clifford’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Clifford will be buried May 2, 2023, in Douglas, Kansas.
U.S. Army Cpl. David N. Defibaugh, 18,
of Duncansville, Pennsylvania, who was killed during the Korean War,
was accounted for Aug. 15, 2022.
In July 1950, Defibaugh was a member of C Company, 3rd Engineer
Combat Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action after his
unit was forced to retreat from the vicinity of Taejon, South Korea, on July 20.
Due to the fighting, his body could not be recovered at that time, and there was
never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war.
The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.
After regaining control of Taejon in the fall of 1950, the Army
began recovering remains from the area and temporarily interring them at the
United Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) Taejon. One set of remains recovered
during this period was designated Unknown X-12 Taejon. After extensive analysis
by the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan was unable to identify X-12,
the remains were declared unidentifiable. They were later sent to Hawaii where
they were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the
Punchbowl, in Honolulu, with other Korean War Unknowns.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War
Unknowns from the Punchbowl. On June 10, 2019, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-12 as
part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to
the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.
Defibaugh’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Defibaugh will be buried Nov. 4, 2022, in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Army Cpl. William M. Zoellick, 18, of
Des Plaines, Illinois, killed during the Korean War, was accounted
for.
In late 1950, Zoellick was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion,
9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action
on Nov. 30, 1950, after his company encountered a Chinese People’s Volunteer
Forces (CPVF) roadblock near Kunu-ri, North Korea.
In August 1953, a CPVF report provided to the
United Nations Command stated Zoellick died on Feb. 27, 1951, at Prisoner of War
Camp #1.
In September 1954, during Operation Glory, North Korea returned
remains reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, also known as Prisoner of War Camp
#5, to the United Nations Command. One set of remains, Unknown X-14319, could
not be identified and was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War
Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In September 2019, the DPAA disinterred Unknown
X-14319 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the
remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for
analysis.
To identify Zoellick’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental
and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally,
scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA
(mtDNA) analysis.
Zoellick’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments
Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific in Honolulu,
along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Zoellick will be buried Nov. 10, 2022 in Belvidere, Illinois.
Navy Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Edward
L. Conway, 29, of Auburn, Illinois, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Conway 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 Conway.
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 Conway.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS
Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
Conway’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments
Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who
are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Conway will be buried on Nov. 12, 2022, in Decatur, Illinois.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Frederick R. Schrader, 31, Lawrenceville, Illinois killed during World War II, was accounted for.
Commander Frederick R. Schrader (NSN: 0-74896), United States
Navy, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
(Posthumously) for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial
flight as Flight Leader of escorting fighter planes over Tinian, Heito, and
Formosa, 13 October 1944.
In October 1944, Schrader was the commander of Carrier Air Group
Eleven on the USS Hornet.
The Hornet was one of 17 aircraft carriers to take part in the Battle of Formosa Oct. 12-15. On Oct. 13, Schrader’s F6F-5 Hellcat fighter was shot down during an attack on Toko Seaplane Base on Formosa, now know as Taiwan.
His wingman never saw a parachute or any evidence Schrader was able to exit the aircraft before it crashed.
No rescue attempt was possible because the crash happened in enemy territory.
Frederick's body was most likely recovered by
Japanese forces in the area, returned to a local headquarters, and "inspected by
an intelligence officer."
He was buried as an "unknown" in Taiwan.
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. John B. Thomas, 23, New York killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Thomas was assigned to the 345th
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force.
On Aug. 1, the B-24 Liberator bomber Thomas was piloting was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania.
His remains were not identified following the war.
The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
Navy Machinst’s Mate 1st Class Keith W.
Tipsword, 27, of Moccasin, Illinois, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Tipsword was assigned to the battleship USS West
Virginia, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS West Virginia sustained multiple torpedo
hits, but timely counter-flooding measures taken by the crew prevented it from
capsizing, and it came to rest on the shallow harbor floor. The attack on the
ship resulted in the deaths of 106 crewmen, including Tipsword.
During efforts to salvage the USS West Virginia, Navy personnel
recovered the remains of the deceased crewmen, representing at least 66
individuals. Those who could not be identified, including Tipsword, were
interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as
the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
From June through October 2017, DPAA, in cooperation with
cemetery officials, disinterred 35 caskets, reported to be associated with the
USS West Virginia from the Punchbowl and transferred the remains to the DPAA
laboratory.
To identify Tipsword’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental
and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces
Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Tipsword’s name is recorded in the Courts of the Missing at the
Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Tipsword will be buried Nov. 15, 2022, in Beecher City, Illinois.
U.S. Army Cpl. Leo J. Barlosky, 24,
In late 1941, Barlosky was a member of the 7th Chemical Company,
Aviation, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December.
Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April
9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps.
Barlosky was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then
held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp
during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical records, Barlosky
died July 27, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the
local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 225.
U.S. Army Cpl. Delbert L. White, 20, Wapello County, Iowa who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted for.
In late 1950, White was a member of D Company, 2nd Engineer
(Combat) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division.
On Dec. 1, White and many other 2nd ID Soldiers were captured by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces as they attempted to block the CPVF and allow the rest of 2nd ID to escape south.
In August 1953, the CPVF sent a list to United Nations Command stating White died in March 1951 as a prisoner of war at POW Camp #1.
However, in September 1953, two returning American POWs said he died in February 1951 at POW Camp #5.
Despite conflicting reports, the Army determined March 18, 1951 was the latest White could have been alive and declared that his date of death.
Delbert L White is memorialized at Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
U.S. Army Pfc. Clinton E. Smith, Jr., 19, Nueces County, Texas killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In January 1945, Smith was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion,
157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division.
The unit was engaged with German forces during the Battle of Reipertswiller in France and was surrounded, along with four other companies.
Smith was killed in an artillery strike on Jan. 14, but his body could not be recovered because of the fighting.
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Paul W. Schmidt, 20, New York killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In March 1945, Schmidt was assigned to 161st Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron, 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 8th Air Force.
His squadron was engaged with attacking German lines of transportation along the Rhine River. On March 23, Schmidt was attacking an enemy train near Sendenhorst, Germany, in his F-6D Mustang fighter.
His wingman reported he last saw Schmidt attacking the train, but he was never seen or heard from again.
Schmidt was declared missing in action, but the Germans never reported him as a prisoner of war.
On March 24, 1946, with no evidence Schmidt survived the fighting, the War Department issued a presumptive finding of death.
Paul W Schmidt is memorialized at Tablets of the Missing Lorraine American Cemetery St. Avold, France.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. James Rotunno, 27, New York killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In January 1945, Rotunno was assigned to Company K, 3rd
Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division.
The unit was engaged with German forces during the Battle of Reipertswiller in France and was surrounded, along with four other companies.
The surrounded companies were given the order to attempt a break-out on Jan. 20, but only two men made it through German lines.
The rest were either captured or killed. Rotunno was among those killed in the aftermath on Jan. 21, but his body could not be recovered because of the fighting.
U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. George E. Davies, 27, Multnomah County, Oregon killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Davies was assigned to the 345th
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force.
On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber on which Davies was the assistant engineer was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania.
His remains were not identified following the war.
The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
George E Davies is buried or memorialized at Tablets of the Missing at Florence American Cemetery, Florence, Italy.
U.S. Army Pfc. Roy J. Searle, 22, Providence County, Rhode Island killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In December 1944, Searle was assigned to Company D, 1st
Battalion, 357th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division.
His unit crossed the Saar River on Dec. 6 and attempted for the next two days to capture and hold two heavily defended towns Pachtener Kopfe and Rehlingen.
Searle was mortally wounded during enemy engagement on Dec. 9, and was reported to have died of his wounds near Rehlingen, Germany.
Roy J Searle is memorialized at Tablets of the Missing at Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France.
U.S. Army Pvt. J.C. Brooks, 19, Kentucky who was killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Brooks was a member of Company I, 39th
Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.
His unit was part of Operation HUSKY, the Allied effort from July 10 to Aug. 17 to capture Sicily from Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italian regime.
Brooks was killed during the Battle of Troina on Aug. 1 while leading an advance against German forces as first scout.
He was unable to be recovered because of the fighting.
J C Brooks is memorialized at Tablets of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy.
U.S. Army Pvt. James R. Tash, 20, Missouri who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for.
In late 1941, Tash was a member of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 31st
Infantry Regiment, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in
December.
Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan
peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and
interned at POW camps.
Tash was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then
held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp
during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical
records, Tash died July 19, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased
prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 312.
James R Tash is memorialized at Tablets of the Missing Manila American Cemetery Manila, Philippines.
September 23
U.S. Army Cpl. Joseph J. Puopolo, 19, of
East Boston, Massachusetts, who died as a prisoner of war during the
Korean War, was accounted for.
In late 1950, Puopolo was a member of C Battery, 38th Field
Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Infantry Division Artillery, 8th U.S. Army. He
was reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, after his unit attempted to
withdraw from Kunu-ri, North Korea, on Nov. 30, following the Battle of
Ch’ongch’on.
In 1953, four POWs who returned during Operation
Big Switch reported Puopolo had been a prisoner of war and died in February 1951
at Prisoner of War Camp #5.
In the late summer and fall of 1954, during Operation Glory,
North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, also known as
Prisoner of War Camp #5, to the United Nations Command. None were associated
with Puopolo.
One set of remains disinterred from Camp #5 returned during
Operation Glory was designated Unknown X-14430 and buried at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War
Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In December 2019, the DPAA disinterred Unknown
X-14430 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the
remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for
analysis.
Puopolo’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments
Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who
are still missing from the Korean War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Puopolo will be buried in Malden, Massachusetts, at a date yet to
be determined.
September 23
U.S. Army Pfc. Adelaido M. Solis, 19, of
Inez, Texas, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was
accounted for.
In late 1950, Solis was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 9th
Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on
Dec. 1, 1950, after his unit’s withdrawal from Kunu-ri, North Korea, following
the Battle of Ch’ongch’on.
In 1953, a POW returned during Operation Big
Switch reported Solis had been a prisoner of war and died in April 1951 at
Prisoner of War Camp #5.
In the late summer and fall of 1954, during Operation Glory,
North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, also known as
Prisoner of War Camp #5, to the United Nations Command. However, Solis’s name
did not appear on any of the transfer rosters and the Central Identification
Unit in Kokura, Japan, did not associate any repatriated remains with him. Solis
was determined to be non-recoverable on Jan. 16, 1956.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War
Unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the
Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In November 2019, the DPAA disinterred Unknown X-14719,
a set of remains returned during Operation Glory, as part of Phase Two of the
Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory at
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.
Solis’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments
Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean
War.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been
accounted for.
Solis will be buried in Bloomington, Texas, on a date yet to be
determined.
U.S. Army Sgt. Garland W. Collier, 25,
of Coleman, Texas, killed during World War II, was accounted for.
In the fall of 1944, Collier was assigned to Headquarters Co.,
3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He
was reported killed in action during Operation MARKET GARDEN when his unit was
attacked by German forces near Opheusden, The Netherlands. His body was unable
to be recovered.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel,
conducted several searches of the area, but by 1950, none of the remains found
around Opheusden could be identified as Collier. He was declared non-recoverable
in November 1950.
In 2015, DPAA historians began working on a comprehensive
research and recovery project focused on those missing from Operation MARKET
GARDEN. During that work, they analyzed information about X-3324 Neuville, an
unknown set of remains recovered from the civilian cemetery in Opheusden in 1946
and buried in what is today known as Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial, an
American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.
Following a multidisciplinary analysis from DPAA historians,
forensic anthropologists, and odontologists, it was determined X-3324 could
possibly be Collier. These remains were disinterred in April 2019 and sent to
the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and
identification.
Collier’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the
Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in
Margarten, Netherlands, along with others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he
has been accounted for.
Collier will be buried Nov. 12, 2022, in his hometown.
U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Roy
Carney, 20, of Electra, Texas, killed during World War II, was
accounted for.
In the summer of 1943, Carney was assigned to the 345th
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On
Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Carney was serving as a
gunner crashed as a result of enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL
WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at
Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following
the war.
The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns
in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti,
Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC),
the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel,
disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.
The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and
those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle
American Cemetery, both in Belgium.