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AMERICANS IDENTIFIED SINCE 1989
WWII, KOREA, COLD WAR

Recently Accounted-For... DPMO

Jan 2005 - Dec 2005

Jan 2006 - May 2007

June 2007 - Dec 2008

Jan 2009 - June 2009

June 2009 -Dec 2010

Jan 2011 - Dec 2012

2013

A hero’s return: Randolph MIA’s remains identified; Killed in Korea in 1950, he’s finally coming home

By FRED HANSON
The Patriot Ledger

RANDOLPH - Army Cpl. Robert Imrie died a hero’s death more than a half-century ago on a battlefield on the other side of the world.

Until two weeks ago, his story ended when the Randolph native was killed on a hill in Korea on Nov. 27, 1950. Allied troops were pushed out of the area in a Communist counteroffensive, before the 23-year-old soldier’s body could be recovered.......

Fred Hanson may be reached at fhanson@ledger.com .

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?contentBlockId=94fc2813-6497-4629-9324-4afec4d115fe

MIA Vietnam-Era CIA Pilot Positively Identified

Fri, 25 May '07

"Earthquake McGoon" Buried With Full Military Honors

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced Wednesday the remains of an American civilian pilot, missing in action from Vietnam while flying for Civil Air Transport, of the CIA, have been identified and returned to his family.

James B. "Earthquake McGoon" McGovern Jr. of Elizabeth, NJ was buried Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, DC with full military honors........

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 574-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 11, 2007

Airmen Missing In Action From WWII is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is 1st Lt. Archibald Kelly, U.S. Army Air Forces, of Detroit, Mich.He will be buried on May 12 in Great Lakes National Cemetery, Holly, Mich. Representatives from the Army met with Kelly's next-of-kin in his hometown to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On July 22, 1944, Kelly was the navigator on a B-24J Liberator on a bombing raid of the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania.Returning to Lecce air base in Italy, the plane was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed in what is now Croatia, approximately 430 miles southwest of Ploesti.Of the ten crewmen on board, eight survived and bailed out of the aircraft before it crashed.The rear gunner died and his body was later recovered.One of the surviving crewmen saw Kelly bail out before the crash, but said he struck a rocky cliff face when the wind caught his parachute.His body was not found at that time.

After researching information contained in U.S. wartime records, specialists from DPMO's Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD) in 2005 interviewed residents from Dubrovnik and Mihanici village who had information related to WWII aircraft losses in the area.One resident recalled a crash in which one of the crewmen landed on a pile of rocks on Mt. Snijeznica after his parachute failed to open.He said locals buried the individual. Based on witness descriptions of the burial location, the team searched the mountaintop, but was unable to locate the burial site.

Additional JCSD archival research in Croatia confirmed the earlier information found in U.S. records.In June 2006, the Dubrovnik resident reported to JCSD that he had continued the search and found the grave site of the American serviceman.He sent pictures of both the site and the remains to DPMO.In September 2006, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the burial site, confirming with local villagers that it was the same site photographed by the Dubrovnik resident.The team recovered human remains at the site.

Among other traditional forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of Kelly's remains.

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 523-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 02, 2007

Five Missing WWII Airmen are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of five U.S. servicemen, missing from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are 1st Lt. Cecil W. Biggs, of Teague, Texas; 1st Lt. William L. Pearce, of San Antonio, Texas; 2nd Lt. Thomas R. Yenner, of Kingston, Pa.; Tech. Sgt. Russell W. Abendschoen of York, Pa.; and Staff Sgt. George G. Herbst of Brooklyn, N.Y.; all U.S. Army Air Forces.Pearce was buried April 27 in Louisville, Ky.; Herbst will be buried June 8 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.; Biggs will be buried June 9 in Teague, Texas; Abendschoen's funeral is June 13 at Arlington; and Yenner will be buried July 30 at Arlington.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men in their hometowns to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.

On Sept. 21, 1944, a C-47A Skytrain crewed by these airmen was delivering Polish paratroopers to a drop zone south of Arnhem, Holland, in support of "Operation Market Garden."Soon after departing the drop zone, the plane crashed and there were no survivors.The Germans opened the dikes in the region where the plane crashed and flooded the area before any remains could be recovered.

When Dutch citizens returned to their homes in Arnhem the next year, they recovered remains from the Skytrain's wreckage and buried them in a nearby cemetery.A U.S. Army graves registration team later disinterred the remains which were reburied as group remains in 1950 at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery in Kentucky.

In 1994, a Dutch citizen located more human remains and other crew-related materials at a site associated with this C-47 crash.They were eventually turned over to U.S. officials.

Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains of these five men.The remains that could not be attributed to a specific individual have been buried with the first set of group remains at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 510-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2007

Soldier Missing in Action from the Korean War is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Cpl. Pastor Balanon Jr., U.S. Army, of San Francisco, Calif.He will be buried May 3 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

Representatives from the Army met with Balanon's next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.

In late October 1950, Balanon was assigned to L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Calvary Regiment, then engaging enemy forces south of Unsan, North Korea, near a bend in the Kuryong River known as the Camel's Head.Chinese communist forces attacked the 8th Regiment's positions on Nov. 1, 1950, forcing a withdrawal to the south where they were surrounded by the enemy.The remaining survivors in the 3rd Battalion attempted to escape a few days later, but Balanon was declared missing in action on Nov. 2, 1950, in the vicinity of Unsan County.

In 2001, a joint U.S.-North Korean team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated a burial site in Kujang County, south of Unsan County.A North Korean citizen living near the site told the team that the remains were relocated to Kujang after they were discovered elsewhere during a construction project.The battle area was about one kilometer north of the secondary burial site.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in Balanon's identification.

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 498-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 27, 2007

Soldier Missing From The Korean War Is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Korean War, has been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Cpl. Clarence R. Becker, U.S. Army, of Lancaster, Pa.He was buried April 25 in Indiantown Gap, Pa.

Representatives from the Army met with Becker's next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.

On Dec. 1, 1950, Becker went missing in action when the convoy of trucks in which he was riding was ambushed south of Kunuri, North Korea.He was captured and taken prisoner.U.S. servicemen who were held in captivity with Becker said he died in the North Korean Pyoktong POW Camp 5 around May 1951 from malnutrition and disease.He was buried near the camp.

Following the Armistice, the Chinese Army exhumed remains from several POW camp cemeteries and repatriated them in 1954 to the United Nations forces during Operation Glory.Becker's remains could not be identified at the time and were subsequently buried as unknown remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific-the Punch Bowl-in Hawaii.

In 2005, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) reexamined Korean War-era documents relating to unknowns buried at the Punch Bowl, which suggested that some of these remains might be identifiable.Later that year, JPAC exhumed a grave there believed to be associated with Becker.

Among other traditional forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC also used dental comparisons in Becker's identification.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ or call (703) 699-1169.

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Remains of Korean War POW to be buried in central Pa.

The Associated Press

ANNVILLE, Pa.

The remains of an American soldier who died in a prison camp during the Korean War will be buried in central Pennsylvania, nearly 60 years after he was taken captive.

Clarence Robert Becker was a 19-year-old private when he went missing on Dec. 1, 1950, after his convoy was ambushed south of Kunuri, North Korea, according to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii. He was reported missing in action more than three years later.......

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 399-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 09, 2007

Ten Missing WWII Airmen are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of ten U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are 2nd Lt. Raymond A. Cooley, of Leary, Texas; 2nd Lt. Dudley R. Ives, of Ingleside, Texas; 2nd Lt. George E. Archer, of Cushing, Okla.; 2nd Lt. Donald F. Grady, of Harrisburg, Pa.; Tech. Sgt. Richard R. Sargent, of North Girard, Pa.; Tech. Sgt. Steve Zayac, of Cleveland, Ohio; Staff Sgt. Joseph M. King, of Detroit, Mich.; Staff Sgt. Thomas G. Knight, of Brookfield, Ill.; Staff Sgt. Norman L. Nell, of Tarkio, Mo.;and Staff Sgt. Blair W. Smith, of Nu Mine, Pa.; all U.S. Army Air Forces.The dates and locations of the funerals are being set by their families.

On April 16, 1944, a B-24 Liberator crewed by these airmen was returning to the aerodrome at Nadzab, New Guinea, after bombing enemy targets near Hollandia.The aircraft was altering course due to bad weather and was proceeding to the aerodrome at Saidor, but it never returned to friendly lines.

In late 2001, the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command that wreckage of a World War II bomber had been found in Morobe Province.Early the next year, a JPAC team surveyed the site and found aircraft wreckage and remains.They also collected more remains and Grady's identification tag from local villagers who had found the items at the crash site.

Later in 2002, a JPAC team began excavating the crash site and recovered remains and crew-related items, including identification tags for Knight and Smith.The team was unable to complete the recovery, and another JPAC team re-visited the site two weeks later to complete the excavation.The team found additional remains and identification tags for Sargent and King.

Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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02/14/2007

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Korea MIA comes home

GORDON DILLOW

It's been more than 56 years since a young American soldier named Jimmie Dorser disappeared in the freezing, bloody cauldron that was the battle of the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.

But today, finally, Jimmie is coming home.......

Contact the writer: Gordon Dillow served as a U.S. Army sergeant in Vietnam in 1971-72, and has several times been an embedded reporter with Marines in Iraq. Contact him at 714-796-7953 or GLDillow@aol.com
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The Lonely Bones
By Amy Wimmer Schwarb and Kathryn Drury Wagner

RE: Harry Warnke

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 1222-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 01, 2006

Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132

Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

Soldiers Missing in Action from the Korean War Are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of eight U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are Master Sgt. Alfred H. Alonzo Sr., of Tampa, Fla.; Sgt. 1st Class Robert C. Bucheit, of Hamilton, Ohio; Sgt. Francis E. Lindsay, of Esther, Mo.; Cpl. Joseph Gregori, of West Pittston, Pa.; Cpl. Darrell W. Scarbrough, of Fayetteville, W.Va.; Cpl. Homer L. Sisk Jr., of Ducor, Calif.; Cpl. Charles E. Sizemore, of Rushville, Ind.; and Cpl. William E. Wood, of Moorhead, Minn.; all U.S. Army.Gregori was buried in August; Bucheit was buried in September; Scarbrough, Sisk and Sizemore were buried in October; Alonzo was buried in November; and Lindsay and Wood's burial dates are being set by their families.

The soldiers were assigned to the U.S. 8th Cavalry Regiment and attached units (1st Cavalry Division), when their unit came under attack by Chinese forces near Unsan, North Korea on the night of Nov. 1-2, 1950.During the battle, these eight and nearly 400 others from the 8th Cavalry Regiment were declared missing or killed in action.

In 2000, a joint U.S. and Democratic People's Republic of Korea team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), interviewed a farmer living in the vicinity of Unsan who told the team that while doing land reclamation work, he uncovered remains he believed were those of U.S. soldiers.

The team excavated the burial site and uncovered the remains of at least 10 different individuals.They also recovered other items and identification tags belonging to these eight men.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.Some of the remains could not be identified and will be held for further research and analysis.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 1200-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 28, 2006

Soldier Missing in Action from the Korean War is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Master Sgt. Robert V. Layton, U.S. Army, of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is to be buried today at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C.

Layton was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division (making up the 31st Regimental Combat Team). The RCT was engaged against the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces along the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. After intense fighting from Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1950, the battalion was forced to abandon its position, leaving its dead behind. Layton was listed as missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, and was later presumed killed in action.

Between 2002 and 2004, joint U.S. and Democratic People's Republic of North Korea teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, seven times excavated a mass burial site associated with the 31st RCT along the eastern shore of the Chosin Reservoir. The team found human remains and other material evidence, including Layton's identification tag and part of his billfold containing a newspaper clipping reporting on a Bronze Star being awarded to "Sgt. Robert Layton" circa 1944.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 1189-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2006

Soldier Missing in Action from the Korean War is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Pfc. Charles H. Long, U.S. Army, of Durand, Ill. He will be buried Nov. 25 in Durand.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On March 24, 1953, Long was one of four men from L Company,3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, who was declared missing in action after engaging enemy forces north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on what came to be known as Pork Chop Hill. The bodies of two of the MIAs were recovered and a third MIA was returned alive during Operation Big Switch after having been captured by Chinese Communist Forces. Long remained unaccounted-for, and was eventually declared dead on March 24, 1954.

In 1993, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) gave United Nations officials 33 boxes with human remains of alleged U.S. servicemen who were unaccounted-for. The DPRK recovered the remains near Komsa-ri in Kangwon Province, which was near Long's last known location. Also included in one of the boxes were Long's social security and identification cards along with identification tags.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169 .

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 1138-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 08, 2006

Missing World War II Airmen Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are 1st Lt. Robert H. Miller, of Providence, R.I.; 2nd Lt. Robert L. Hale, of Newtonville, Mass.; Staff Sgt. Joseph A. Berube, of Fall River, Mass.; and Staff Sgt. Glendon E. Harris, of North Monmouth, Maine; all U.S. Army Air Forces.Miller, Hale and Berube were buried last month and Harris' burial is being set by his family.

On Oct. 24, 1943, a B-25D-1 Mitchell bomber crewed by these airmen departed Oro Bay Airfield in New Guinea on a bombing run of enemy targets in Rabaul.As the aircraft neared its target, it was attacked by Japanese fighter aircraft.Crewmen from other aircraft said they saw the B-25 crash near a plantation at Kabanga Point.There were no survivors.

In 1946 and 1947, Australian War Graves search teams recovered some of the crew's remains from the crash site.Identifications were not possible at the time and the remains were ultimately buried at the Manila American Military Cemetery in the Philippines.

From 1999-2000, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) led a joint U.S. and Papua New Guinea (P.N.G.) investigation and excavation of a WWII-era crash site in East New Britain Province. One joint team interviewed individuals having information on the crash, including an eyewitness who said he saw the B-25 crash near his village.Another individual found and buried human remains at the crash site in the mid 1990s.The team surveyed the site and found aircraft wreckage, human remains and personal effects.A second joint team excavated the site and recovered additional human remains and crew-related artifacts from the wreckage field.

In 2004, an anthropologist from JPAC's Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) exhumed the graves at the Manila American Military Cemetery where he recovered the remains buried there in the 1940s.

Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains.

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http://www.newburyportnews.com/opinion/local_story_300142816?keyword=secondarystory

Lt. Hale returns home

Daily News of Newburyport

After 63 years, U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Robert Hale is finally coming home to Rowley.

And it is thanks to science, thanks to the participation of his family members and thanks to the tenacious resolve of the military he served that his remains will be buried Saturday in the Hale family plot at the Main Street Cemetery. .....

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http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061027/NEWS0110/110270035

Remains ID'd as Durand soldier

Rockford Register Star - Rockford,IL,USA
Published: October 27, 2006
Local News: Winnebago County

Remains ID’d as Durand soldier

By Bridget Tharp

ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR

DURAND — At their kitchen table at home in Durand, the closest living relatives of Army Pfc. Charles H. Long are flipping through his 1949 Durand High School yearbook. They have been dusting off stuff like this since September, when they learned that Long’s body had been identified from among Korean War soldiers killed and left at a notorious battlefield.......

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http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/living/community/15795281.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_nation

Posted on Thu, Oct. 19, 2006

`This whole thing has just been unbelievable'
Fallen soldier finally home
Brother claims remains of U.S. Army private from Barberton killed in Korean War
By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer

CLEVELAND - .....Francis ``Junior'' Crater of Barberton was a U.S. Army private -- just 21 -- when he was lost, missing in action on Nov. 28, 1950, at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.

Wednesday, inside Bay No. 1 of the Continental Airlines cargo center at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the fallen soldier finally came home to Ohio.....

Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 1064-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 20, 2006

Soldier Missing in Action from the Korean War is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Pfc. Francis Crater Jr., U.S. Army's 32nd Infantry Regiment, of Barberton, Ohio. He will be buried Oct. 21 in Akron, Ohio.

From Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1950, the U.S. Army's 31st Regimental Combat Team, to which Crater's regiment was temporarily assigned, fought elements of the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces in the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. After intense fighting, the 1/32 Infantry was forced to abandon its position, leaving its dead behind. Regimental records compiled after the battle indicate that Crater was killed in action on Nov. 28, 1950.

Between 2002 and 2003, two joint U.S.-Democratic People's Republic of North Korea teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated two, adjacent mass graves on the eastern shore of the Chosin Reservoir believed to be burial sites of U.S. soldiers from the 31st RCT. The team found human remains for eight individuals and other material evidence, including Crater's identification tags.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

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Missing World War II Airman identified

Air Force Print News
2006-10-10

10/9/2006 - WASHINGTON -- The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is 1st Lt. Shannon E. Estill, U.S. Army Air Forces, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He will be buried Oct. 10 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

On April 13, 1945, Estill's P-38J Lightning was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire while attacking targets in eastern Germany. Another U.S. pilot reported seeing Estill's aircraft explode and crash. Because the location of the crash site was within the Russian-controlled sector of occupied Germany, U.S. military personnel could not recover Estill's remains after the war.

In 2003, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) investigated a crash site near the town of Elsnig in eastern Germany. The site had been reported by two German nationals whose hobby is finding the location of World War II crash sites. They also claimed to have found remains at the site, which they turned over to U.S. Army officials. The team surveyed the site and interviewed two more men who witnessed the crash as children.

In 2005, another JPAC team excavated the crash site and recovered additional human remains as well as P-38 wreckage. Included in the recovered wreckage was an aircraft data plate from Estill's plane.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains, matching DNA sequences from a maternal relative.

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http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=3278

POW/MIA Found and Laid to Rest

Kevin Gribble

10/6/2006

Alan Mettler fought and died for our country over half a century ago. The soldier from Mandan died in a Korean War POW camp, but it took decades for his body to be returned. The after effects are war are always present, but today, the Mettler family and friends was finally able to close a painful chapter in their lives.

Alan`s brother Larry recalls, "Last time I saw my brother, he was boarding the train to go off to war.".....

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 942-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 22, 2006

First Identification of U.S. Soldier Missing in Action from World War I

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War I, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

This is the first time the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) has identified a soldier unaccounted for from World War I.

He is Army Pvt. Francis Lupo of Cincinnati, Ohio.He will be buried on Tuesday,

Sept. 26, 2006, at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

Representatives from the Army met with Lupo's next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

In 1918, Lupo participated in the combined French-American attack on the Germans near Soissons, France, in what came to be known as the Second Battle of the Marne.Despite heavy Allied losses, this battle has been regarded as a turning point in the war, halting and reversing the final German advances toward Paris.

Lupo, a member of Company E, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, was killed in action during the battle, but his remains were never recovered.

In 2003, while conducting a survey in preparation for a construction project, a French archaeological team discovered human remains and other items a short distance from Soissons.Among the items recovered were a military boot fragment and a wallet bearing Lupo's name.The items were given by the French to U.S. officials for analysis.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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From: "Ted Darcy" <wreck1@localnet.com>
Subject: Warnke Case Closed!
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 07:02:54 -0400

After 15 years, he is finally going home. Full coverage at the link below.

http://hiavps.com

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Memphis Commercial Appeal (TN)
August 31, 2006

Soldier MIA in Korea to be buried

VICKSBURG - The remains of a Mississippi soldier missing in action in Korea for more than 50 years will be buried today during services in Vicksburg.

PFC Oscar Howard Nettles was reported missing in action in North Korea on Nov. 26, 1950. He was presumed dead on Dec. 31, 1953......

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 805-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2006

Missing World War II Airmen Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) today announced three airmen missing in action from World War II have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are 2nd Lt. David J. Nelson, Chicago, Ill.; Tech. Sgt. Henry F. Kortebein, Maspeth, N.Y.; and Tech. Sgt. Blake A. Treece Jr., Marshall, Ark., all U.S. Army Air Forces.These men are to be buried along with group remains of their aircrew at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men in their hometowns on behalf of the Secretary of the Army to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors.

On August 8, 1944, Nelson, Kortebein and Treece departed an allied air base in England in their B-17G Flying Fortress with six other crewmen aboard.Their mission was to bomb enemy targets near Caen, France.The aircraft was seen to explode and crash after being struck by enemy flak near the village of Lonlay l'Abbaye, south of Caen.The other six members of the crew were 1st Lt. Jack R. Thompson; 2nd Lts. Charles Bacigalupa and Charles Sherrill; and Sgts. Richard R. Collins, Gerald F. Gillies and Warren D. Godsey.The hometowns of these six are not available.

German forces and French villagers living near the crash site recovered some of the remains of the crew and buried them nearby.Advancing U.S. forces found additional remains.Six of the nine crewmen ultimately were identified, but Nelson, Kortebein and Treece remained unaccounted for.

In August 2002, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) operating in Luxembourg was informed that a local French aircraft wreckage hunting group (Association Normande du Souvenir Aerien 39/45) had located a crash site near Lonlay l'Abbaye.The JPAC team surveyed the site, excavated it in July 2004 and recovered human remains, personal effects and crew-related materials from amid the wreckage.Also found were six unexploded 250-pound bombs.

Later that year, a French explosive ordnance disposal team turned over a bone fragment to the U. S. Defense Attache in Paris.It was found by French technicians working to secure the site where the bombs had been found.

Among other forensic identification tools, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains of the three, matching DNA sequences from maternal relatives.

===========================================
NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 764-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 10, 2006

Soldier Missing in Action From the Korean War is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Cpl. Edward F. Blazejewski, U.S. Army, of Elizabeth, N.J. He is to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. on Friday.

Blazejewski was assigned to Medical Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, when his unit came under heavy artillery attack by Chinese forces near Unsan, North Korea, on Nov. 1, 1950. During the attack, Cpl. Blazejewski and other soldiers killed in action were left behind when their unit moved to a previous defensive position. A U.S. soldier who had been held as a prisoner of war by the North Koreans told debriefers that Blazejewski and others had been killed by a grenade explosion.

In August 1997, a joint U.S.-North Korean team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated a site in Pyongan Province believed to contain the remains of several U.S. soldiers. Remains representing four men were recovered, as well as an identification tag and a denture, neither of which were associated with Blazejewski.

The other three soldiers were identified and buried in 2000. Buried at Arlington were Sgt. James T. Higgins, Benham, Ky.; and Pfc. John L. Hoey, Philadelphia, Pa. Sgt. Andrew Ernandis, Brooklyn, N.Y., was buried in Hicksville, N.Y. Group remains representing all four soldiers will also be buried Friday at Arlington.

Among other forensic identification tools, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of Blazejewski's remains, matching a DNA sequence from a maternal relative.

==============================

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 757-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aug 08, 2006 Media Contact: (703)697-5131

Public/Industry(703)428-0711

Missing WWII Marine is Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that a U.S. Marine missing in action from World War II has been identified and is being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Sgt. John H. Branic, U.S. Marine Corps, of Madera, Pa. He is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Branic was a platoon leader for L Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division on Aug. 19, 1942, when a Japanese force overran his defensive position on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. During the attack, Branic was killed, but the Marines of L Company counterattacked and succeeded in driving the Japanese back. The location of Branic's remains was not reported to headquarters, as the L Company executive officer was also killed.

In February 1992, the U.S. Embassy, Solomon Islands, reported to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) that remains believed to be those of an American had been recovered at a construction site on Guadalcanal. JPAC

took possession of those remains the following month, and excavated the site where they found additional remains. In the same general area, they found World War II-era ammunition, but no additional remains.
In 2004, an American researcher with the First Marine Division association reported to JPAC that a Solomon Islander had possession of a ring with the inscription "JHB" on the inside. The ring was found at the initial burial site.

JPAC scientists and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory specialists used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify the remains. Laboratory analysis of dental remains also confirmed the identification.

=================

Posted on Thu, Jul. 27, 2006

Remains of soldier listed MIA in 1950 coming home

Cpl. Joseph Gregori was reported MIA in 1950. His remains have been identified and will be coming back home in about a month to be buried.

By KALEN CHURCHER

Times Leader (Pa.)

WEST PITTSTON, Pa. – Lena Gregori, her 93-year-old blue eyes glistening with tears, still remembers Nov. 1, 1950 – the day a telegram that said her son was missing in action arrived at her doorstep.

“I was beside myself,” she said, holding tightly a framed picture of her son, Army Cpl. Joseph Gregori. Gregori, known to his family as Sonny, went missing during the Battle of Unsan in North Korea on Oct. 31, 1950. “I said, ‘Joseph, my life won’t be the same. Part of me is gone with you.’ ”....

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NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 682-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jul 18, 2006 Media Contact: (703)697-5131

Public/Industry(703)428-0711

Missing WWII Airmen Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that nine servicemen missing in action from World War II have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are 1st Lt. William M. Hafner, Norfolk, Va.; 2nd Lt. Arthur C. Armacost, III, Cincinnati, Ohio; 2nd Lt. David R. Eppright, Warrensburg, Mo.; 2nd Lt. Charles F. Feucht, Reynoldsburg, Ohio; Technical Sgt. Raymond S. Cisneros, San Antonio, Texas; Technical Sgt. Alfred W. Hill, Temple, Okla.; Technical Sgt. James G. Lascelles, New York, N.Y.; Staff Sgt. William C. Cameron, Los Angeles, Calif.; and Staff Sgt. Wilburn W. Rozzell, Duncan, Okla. All were members of the 63rd Bombardment Squadron, 43 Bombardment Group.

The individually-identified remains of Armacost, Cameron, Hafner and Lascelles will be buried July 19 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. as are the group remains representing all nine crewmen. Cisneros, Rozzell, Feucht, Eppright and Hill were buried elsewhere.

On November 4, 1943 Hafner and his crew took off in a B-24 Liberator from Dobodura, Territory of New Guinea. The men were on an armed reconnaissance mission over the Bismark Sea. A few hours into the flight Hafner sighted a convoy of Japanese ships and was told to shadow the convoy and report back. Four hours later the crew radioed from the B-24 that they had made three direct hits on the convoy and destroyed the target. That was the last radio contact with the crew.

In March 2002 a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) was contacted by a local government official through the U.S. Embassy. The team was exploring unrelated WW II aircraft crash sites in Papua New Guinea. The official turned over aircraft data plates, human remains and three ID tags which had been found at a crash site in Morobe Province.

During the excavation of the site in Aug.-Sept. 2003, the team recovered additional remains and personal effects including identification tags and bracelets. The remains were submitted to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL). Specialists at JPAC and AFDIL used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify the remains of these servicemen. Laboratory analysis of dental remains also confirmed their identification.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ [http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/] or call (703) 699-1169.

================

DNA reveals Newport's unknown sailor

Seaman 1st Class Raymond Johnson -- lost at sea in a naval tragedy in Rhode Island in 1942 -- can now receive a proper burial and gravestone.

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, July 14, 2006

BY RICHARD SALIT
Journal Staff Writer

NEWPORT -- What the unknown sailor cannot say, his bones can now tell.

Buried here during World War II, without a marker or a memorial service, the Navy seaman remained unidentified and forgotten through the years.

But more than 60 years later, the Navy has exhumed his remains from Island Cemetery and, through DNA testing, solved the mystery of who he was. Now Seaman 1st Class Raymond Johnson -- lost at sea in an all but forgotten naval tragedy in Rhode Island in 1942 -- can receive a proper burial and gravestone.......

rsalit@projo.com / (401) 277-7467

Online at: http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20060714_ntnavy14.1822a36.html

===============================================

NNS060712-04. Experts Confirm Sunken Sub is USS Lagarto

From Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Naval Historical Center Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- Experts at the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C., have confirmed that a World War II submarine wreck found in the Gulf of Thailand last year is USS Lagarto (SS 371).

Underwater archeologists at the center completed their examination of evidence obtained in June by Navy divers from USS Salvor (ARS 52) and Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 1, both based in Pearl Harbor.

"We now know for certain that this is Lagarto," said Rear Adm. Jeffrey Cassias, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine force. "I am grateful to all those involved in helping to bring closure to the families of these 86 men who died in service to our nation."

For 60 years, crew members' families did not know the exact circumstances surrounding the 86 submariners who perished. Lagarto was last heard from May 3, 1945, as she was preparing to attack a Japanese convoy under heavy escorts in the Gulf of Thailand. Japanese war records later revealed that the minelayer Hatsutaka reported sinking a U.S. submarine at roughly the same time and location.

In May 2005, British wreck diver Jamie MacLeod reported finding the sunken Lagarto lying upright in about 225 feet of water. Though the documentation provided by MacLeod was compelling, Navy officials waited to see the wreckage for themselves before stating for certain that the wreck was Lagarto. The Thailand phase of exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) provided an opportunity for Navy divers to visit the site in June.

"During the initial planning conferences, we realized we would have a salvage ship very close to this site," said Cmdr. Tony San Jose, U.S. 7th
Fleet's diving and salvage officer. "So by incorporating this into CARAT, we would be able to bring closure to the families and at the same time
accomplish some training objectives."

In preparation for that expedition, experts at the Naval Historical Center collected and reviewed all of their records about Lagarto, as well as their
extensive holdings on Balao-class submarines. The center's team of historians and underwater archeologists obtained copies of the original
plans and photos of Lagarto from the National Archives, consulted with the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, Wis., where Lagarto was built, and traveled to Baltimore to inspect Lagarto's sister ship USS Torsk (SS 493), which is now used as a museum.

Because the extreme depth would limit bottom time, the archaeologists and historians prepared an extensive background package to direct the divers towards the physical features most likely to give clues to its identity. They recommended that the divers focus their efforts on several key
features, including:

- The number of deck guns. Lagarto was one of only three World War II-era submarines known to have been fitted with two 5-inch deck guns, one forward and one aft.

- The location of the anchor. Depending on the manufacturer, Balao-class submarine anchors were fitted to either the port or starboard side.

Submarines built in Manitowoc, like Lagarto, had theirs on the starboard side.

- Markings on the propeller. Naval Historical Center researchers examining the propeller of USS Pompon (SS 267) in Alexandria, Va., found Pompon's name was stamped on the hub.

- Markings on the forward capstan or torpedo-loading hatches. The inspection of Torsk revealed that its name was stamped in these places.

USS Salvor (ARS 52) and USS Patriot (MCM 7) arrived on station June 10. Using coordinates provided by MacLeod, the Japan-based Patriot first pinpointed the location of the wreckage with its SQQ-32 sonar and remotely-operated Mine Neutralization Vehicle. After conducting a precision anchorage directly above the wreck, divers from Salvor and Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 1, both based in Pearl Harbor, spent the next six days carrying out a series of dives utilizing mixed gas of helium and oxygen.

The depths limited divers to just 20 minutes of bottom time per dive, with two divers per dive. When each dive was completed, the divers had to spend one hour slowly ascending to the surface, followed by two more hours in a decompression chamber. Given these challenges, dives were limited to three per day, or 16 total over the six days.

"There's so much time invested in each dive because of the amount of decompression that is required to bring someone back up from that depth," said Chief Navy Diver Matthew Stevens of Salvor. "The main thing is getting down to the bottom, making sure I can clear, making sure that I'm doing what I need to do."

The divers remained in daily contact with the Naval Historical Center while they were on station, updating the Navy's underwater archaeologists on their findings. Divers were quickly able to confirm the location of the wreck, the fact that it was a Balao-class submarine, the existence of two 5-inch deck guns, and the starboard location of its anchor. All of these factors indicated that it was Lagarto.

On the final dive, divers left a brass plaque on the capstan of the sub honoring the 86 Sailors believed entombed inside. Back on the surface,

Salvor's crew held a memorial ceremony on deck. Crew members also took the time to read letters from family members and reflect on the tragedy that had befallen Lagarto's crew.

"We all kind of talked about what actually happened and what could have happened," said Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Byran Zenoni, a diver on Salvor. "To actually read what the families are saying and how much it really means...it kind of gives you that extra push to really get the job done."

During their six days on station, the Navy divers took about 10 hours of video and 500 digital photographs, which were sent to the Naval Historical Center for analysis. Once there, experts began the long process of examining and evaluating all of the material.

In addition to the twin 5-inch gun configuration and starboard anchor, researchers focused on a spot on the propeller where they had seen Pompon's name engraved during their inspection of that submarine. Divers were able to scrape away marine growth to show the letters "LA," which was probably part of Lagarto's name. They also saw the word "Manitowoc" engraved on the propeller. Lagarto was one of 28 submarines built in Manitowoc, Wis., of which four were lost during the war. None of the other three ill-fated Manitowoc submarines - USS Robalo (SS 273), USS Kete (SS 369) and USS Golet (SS 361) - was operating near the Gulf of Thailand when they were lost.

As part of their research of Lagarto, Naval Historical Center researchers had interviewed retired Capt. Robert Gillette of the Undersea Museum
Foundation. Gillette, who was a submarine commander during World War II, agreed it was Lagarto.

"Manitowoc built a limited number of subs, which increases the probability that this sub is Lagarto," said Gillette. "It was common practice to put the name of the sub on critical parts, especially the propeller. There is no question in my mind that this wreckage is Lagarto."

Retired Rear Adm. Paul Tobin, director of the Naval Historical Center, lauded the work of the divers and his staff of historians and archaeologists who helped to confirm the discovery.

"All of the hard work by Pacific Fleet and Naval Historical Center personnel has helped bring some closure to the families of the 86 men lost aboard Lagarto, and has shed new light on one of the many mysteries of World War II," said Tobin.

Lagarto was one of 52 submarines lost on patrol during World War II. Cassias, who commands the Pacific submarine force, said that the legacy of the men who served on submarines continues to inspire submariners today.

"We owe a great debt to these men, and to all of the World War II submariners," said Cassias. "In the world's darkest hour, they faced the greatest risks and demonstrated the most noble courage to preserve the freedom of our nation."

===============================

No. 608-06

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jun 27, 2006

Missing World War II Airmen are Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that nine airmen missing in action from World War II have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

The nine are 2nd Lt. Hugh L. Johnson Jr., Montgomery, Ala.; 2nd Lt. Byron L. Stenen, Northridge, Calif.; 2nd Lt. John F. Green, Watertown, N.Y.; 2nd Lt. John M. Meisner, Pembroke, Mass.; Staff Sgt. Walter Knudsen, Sioux City, Iowa; Cpl. John A. DeCarlo, Newark, N.J.; Cpl. Robert E. Raney, Monon, Ind.; Cpl. William G. Mohr, Mt. Wolf, Pa.; and Cpl. Michael J. Pushkar, Mahanoy City, Pa. All were assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces.

The individually identified remains of Stenen, Green, Meisner, Mohr and Pushkar, as well as the group remains representing all nine crewmen, are being buried today at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Johnson, Knudsen and Raney will be buried elsewhere.

On the morning of Oct. 9, 1944, the crew took off on a training mission from Nadzab, New Guinea, in their B-24D Liberator. The aircraft was not seen again, and it was speculated that it had encountered bad weather.

In early 2002, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby reported the discovery of two dog tags by villagers from a World War II crash site in Morobe Province. Specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) traveled to Papua, New Guinea, in November 2002 to investigate several World War II aircraft losses. The team interviewed the two villagers who gave them the dog tags, then surveyed the site where aircraft wreckage and human remains were found.

A joint team of JPAC and Papua, New Guinea specialists mounted a full-scale excavation at the site January through February 2003, when they recovered additional human remains and crew-related artifacts from the wreckage field. JPAC scientists and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory specialists used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify the remains. Laboratory analysis of dental remains also confirmed their identification.

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June 8, 2006

MISSING WWII SERVICEMEN ARE IDENTIFIED

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel (DPMO) announced today that three servicemen missing in action from World War II have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

The three are 2nd Lt. Robert H. Cameron, Elkhart, Ind.; Cpl. George E. Cunningham, Rich Hill, N.Y., all U.S. Army Air Forces; and Capt. Vladimir M. Sasko, Chicago, Ill., U.S. Army Medical Corps. Cameron is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. on Friday. Sasko was buried earlier by his family in Chicago, and final arrangements for Cunningham have yet to be confirmed.

On December 10, 1944, a C-47 crewed by Cameron and Cunningham took off from Dobudura, New Guinea on a cargo flight to Hollandia with three passengers aboard, including Capt. Sasko. Forty minutes into the flight the crew radioed a request for weather information. Another pilot in the area replied that the weather was bad, saying he was headed out to sea to avoid it. After that, there was no further contact with the Cameron crew. Search teams in the area from the Royal Australian Air Force were unsuccessful in finding the crash site.

In 1979 and 1980, search and recovery teams from the U.S. Army’s Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) found the site and recovered remains subsequently identified by CILHI scientists as those of 2nd Lt. Stanley D. Campbell, Pioche, Nev.; and Cpl. Carl A. Drain, hometown unknown.

In Oct. and Nov. 2004 a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) – CILHI’s successor organization -- excavated the site in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea where they recovered human remains and personal effects of the remaining airmen.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website and http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703)-699-1169.

=========================================

From the Wednesday, May 24, 2006 issue:

Remains of WW II pilot lost for 60 years buried

By Matt Bird-Meyer
The Sedalia Democrat

WARRENSBURG -- The skies were alive Tuesday as the remains of one of Missouri's native sons were put to rest after being missing for more than 60 years.

Lt. David R. Eppright's remains were buried in Sunset Hill Cemetery with full military honors, including the scheduled fly-over of three F-15 jets from St. Louis. An unscheduled B-2 stealth bomber rumbled just east of the cemetery shortly after the jets faded, followed by a quick pass by a T-38 jet......

=======================

AP Alert - New York
May 20, 2006

WWII airman laid to rest, decades after crash

NEW YORK_A bombardier lost over the Pacific during World War II has finally been laid to rest in Queens, six decades after his death.

Lt. Frank Giugliano was one of 11 U.S. airmen who vanished when their B-24J Liberator disappeared in bad weather after bombing enemy targets in New Guinea on April 16, 1944......

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AP Alert - Washington
May 19, 2006

Service held for WWII fighter pilot lost North Cascades

PHILADELPHIA_More than six decades after his plane crashed in a ravine in the North Cascades of Washington state, a World War II fighter pilot will be interred following a military funeral attended by a daughter who was eight weeks old when he failed to make it home.

Lt. Kenneth W. Ambrose, 24, had been fighting Japanese aircraft over the Aleutian Islands and was hoping to see his daughter for the first time on a maintenance run back to California in November 1942.......

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San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
May 14, 2006

SANTA ROSA : Once MIA, airman is finally laid to rest Alvin Earl Crane Jr. was shot down during Korean War
Vanessa Hua

Fifty-five years after Air Force 1st Lt. Alvin Earl Crane Jr. was shot down while flying on a mission over Korea, he was laid to rest Saturday in Santa Rosa.......

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No. 433-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 12, 2006

Soldier MIA from the Korean War is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is U.S. Army Corporal Henry D. Connell of Springfield, Mass.

He will be buried in his hometown on Saturday.

Connell was assigned to Company L, 8th Cavalry Regiment, when his unit engaged North Korean forces near Taegu, South Korea, in September 1950. He sustained injuries from a fall while evacuating wounded soldiers from the b attlefield. Connell was sent to a military hospital in Japan, from which he was later reported erroneously to be absent without leave.

An investigation proved that Connell had returned to his unit, now battling Communist Chinese forces in North Korea in early November 1950 near Unsan, about 60 miles north of the capital of Pyongyang. He had been reported missing in action from that battle.

Between 1991-94, North Korea turned 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. One of those boxes, received on July 12, 1993, contained two dog tags for Connell, as well as human remains. The accompanying North Korean documents indicated the remains had been exhumed in Unsan County.

Over the next several years, forensic anthropologists at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, were able to determine that the box contained the remains of at least four individuals. Some of those remains represented a 14-18-year-old male who stood approximately 70 inches tall at the time of his death. Korean War medical records indicated that Connell was 17 years, 9 months of age, and stood 69.5 inches tall.

Among several forensic identification tools, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) also used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools in the identification of Connell's remains, matching a DNA sequence from a maternal relative.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo [http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo%20or%20call%20(703] or call (703) 699-1169.

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http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/May/11/ln/FP605110356.html

Lab identifies 7 WWII remains from Alaska

The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Hickam Air Force Base has identified the remains of seven Navy air crewmen whose plane crashed on a Japanese-held island off Alaska in 1942, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday......

The crew members were identified as Ensign Leland L. Davis of Jackson, Miss.; Ensign Robert F. Keller of Wichita, Kan.; Seaman 2nd Class Elwin Alford of Bogalusa, La.; Seaman 2nd Class Dee Hall of Syria, Okla.; Aviation Machinist Mate John H. Hathaway of Lafayette, Ind.; Aviation Radioman 2nd Class Robert A. Smith of Glen Dive, Mont.; and Aviation Pilot 3rd Class Albert J. Gyorfi of Wilbur, Wash.

=================================================

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 411-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 08, 2006

Missing WWII Airmen are Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel (DPMO) announced today that two members of a four-man Army Air Forces crew missing in action from World War II have been identified, and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

            The four are pilot Capt. Douglas R. Wight of Westfield, N.J.; co-pilot 1st Lt. Herbert W. Evans of Rapid City S.D.; crew chief Cpl. John W. Hanlon of Arnett, Okla.; and radio operator Pfc. Gerald L. Rugers, Jr., of Tacoma, Wash. Evans and Rugers were individually identified, while group remains of all four will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, May 9.

            On March 27, 1944, a C-46 crewed by these four airmen departed a
            On March 27, 1944, a C-46 crewed by these four airmen departed a base in Kunming, China, on route to Sookerating, India, as part of the massive allied resupply missions over the Himalayan Mountains, referred to as the "Hump." En route one of the crewmen called out for a bearing, suggesting the aircraft was lost. There was no further communication with the crew. The aircraft never reached its destination, and searches during and following World War II failed to locate the crash site.

Officials from the People's Republic of China notified the U.S. in early 2001 that the wreckage of an American WWII aircraft had been found on Meiduobai Mountain in a remote area of Tibet. The following year, a joint U.S.-P.R.C. team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated the site where they found human remains, aircraft debris and personal items related to the crew.

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(04-20) 15:48 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) -- 2006

Eleven U.S. airmen killed in the World War II crash of a B-24J Liberator bomber 62 years ago in the South Pacific will be honored in burials at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday.......

The pilots of the B-24J were Capt. Thomas C. Paschal of El Monte, Calif., and 2nd Lt. John A. Widsteen, of Palo Alto, Calif.

The other nine were:

1st Lt. Frank P. Giugliano, of New York, N.Y.; 1st Lt. James P. Gullion, of Paris, Texas; 2nd Lt. Leland A. Rehmet, of San Antonio, Texas; Staff Sgt. Richard F. King, of Moultrie, Ga.; Staff Sgt. William Lowery, of Republic, Pa.; Staff Sgt. Elgin J. Luckenbach, of Luckenbach, Texas; Staff Sgt. Marion B. May, of Amarillo, Texas; Sgt. Marshall P. Borofsky, of Chicago, and Sgt. Walker G. Harm, of Philadelphia.....

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Previously 'Unknown' Pearl Harbor Victim Reburied With Full Honors
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2006 – A once-unidentified sailor killed in the Pearl Harbor attack almost 65 years ago was laid to rest today with full honors and a grave marker bearing his name, thanks to sleuth work by a Pearl Harbor survivor and U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command's expertise.

Navy Seaman 2nd Class Warren Paul Hickock was buried with full military honors in Honolulu on March 29, more than 64 years after he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His remains were only recently identified. Courtesy photo

Seaman 2nd Class Warren Paul Hickok was reinterred this morning at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, more commonly called the Punchbowl. The 18-year-old Kalamazoo, Mich., native had been among more than 1,500 sailors, soldiers, Marines and civilians killed during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack but never identified.

Hickok was assigned to the light mine layer USS Sicard when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. According to defense officials, many Sicard crewmembers had been dispatched at the time to help the crew of USS Cummings, a destroyer docked nearby. The Cummings got under way and cleared Pearl Harbor after the attack and reported no injuries.

An investigation into those still unaccounted-for determined that Hickok may have been among the Sicard crewmen aboard USS Pennsylvania during the attack. However, he was not among those reported lost, officials said.

In the days following the attack, the unidentified dead, including a sailor identified only as "X-2," were buried in Nuuanu Cemetery in Oahu, Hawaii. Years later, after World War II ended, the Army Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains and attempted to identify them.

Those that couldn't be identified, including "X-2's," were reburied at the Punchbowl on June 9, 1949, defense officials said. About 1,000 others are interred aboard USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor.

This might have been the end of the story, except for the detective work of Ray Emory, a Pearl Harbor survivor and researcher who has spent the past 12 years trying to help match names to unknowns.

Emory, a sailor assigned to USS Honolulu during the attack, calls his effort a labor of love to help honor the memories of those who died and to bring closure to their families. "I'll be doing this to my dying day," said the 84-year-old Hawaii resident.

He scrubs deceased servicemembers' military records, most obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, looking for details that link them to those unidentified from the Pearl Harbor attack. "You usually need five or six documents to put the puzzle together,' he said, calling the effort "a lot like chess."

As in many of the other cases he investigates, dental and medical records offered the critical clues in linking the unknown sailor designated as "X-2" to Hickok, he said. When he thought he was on to something, Emory said, he contacted JPAC, which found his evidence convincing enough to exhume the grave last June.

Forensic anthropologists from the command used historical reports, dental and anthropological analysis and mitochondrial DNA to successfully match the remains with information in Hickok's military records, defense officials said.

Heather Harris, the JPAC historian who wrote the historical report for Hickok's case, verified the new information, which led to a second examination of the remains and his ultimate identification.

"We got lucky in our reexamination of the case," said Harris. "During the original processing of X-2 Nuuanu, they noted in their paperwork that he had a healed right femur. Hickok's medical records had no indication of this injury, but when I looked at his paperwork from his enlistment to the service (paperwork that wouldn't have been previously available), I noticed that he had written that he'd broken his right leg as a boy."

The Defense Department announced the successful identification Dec. 16, 2005.

Harris said information from third parties often proves valuable in bringing a case to JPAC's attention.

"Mr. Emory has been collecting and analyzing information about World War II unknowns and the unknowns associated with the attack on Pearl Harbor for longer than I have been alive," Harris said. "He amassed a prodigious amount of information and developed a keen understanding of how the information he obtained fit together.

"That said, JPAC historians and analysts often have easier access to much of this information and can obtain information that Mr. Emory may have a difficult time obtaining," she said. "In this instance, we were able to use the information Mr. Emory provided as a starting point for researching the case."

Emory said he gets a huge lift by helping to piece together an unsolved case. "You don't know how good it feels to get a call from JPAC saying, 'You've done it again," he said. But the biggest reward, he said, is being able to call family members and tell them that their loved one has been identified.

In the Hickok case, tracking down his only living survivor took a bit of detective work, too, Emory said. Failing to locate them through a records search, he contacted the Kalamazoo newspaper, which ran an article about the successful identification and the attempt to locate Hickok's sister. The article made its way to the Internet, and eventually Hickok was able to make contact with Marilyn "Kay" Woodring, now living in Florida.

"She was astounded," Woodring said. He was looking forward to meeting her for the first time today, at Hickok's funeral.

Harris said it's important to identify all unknowns from past conflicts to acknowledge and honor each individual's sacrifice. Of the 88,000 unaccounted-for Americans from all conflicts, 78,000 are from World War II.

"To acknowledge the commitments of the dead, we also recognize the loss incurred by their family and friends and, while we can never return their loved one, we can offer them the solace that comes with knowing what happened and being able to bury them," she said. "We recommit ourselves to a national sentiment that we will not leave our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines behind and we won't forget their sacrifice."

(Compiled from Defense Department and Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command releases and an interview by American Forces Press Service.)

====================================================================

http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_104003545?keyword=secondarystory

WWII flier remains found

CNHI News Service

Military funeral service set Saturday in Duncan
By Carol Cole
Norman Transcript
LaVoice Forbes still carries a tiny, dog-eared photo in her wallet.
The couple-inch-wide photo is of her only sibling, World War II Army Air Corps Staff Sgt. Wilburn "Willie" Rozzell, his arm around a girlfriend from Oklahoma City......

======================

Farewell to a warrior

Submitted by Moffat Mamu on 24 February, 2006 - 4:21pm. Weekend Magazine

IT is the 10th January 1943. The men of the US Army’s L Company, 3rd Battalion, 35th Infantry (L/3/35) are moving into an area known as Sea Horse.
It is called Sea Horse because of its shape when viewed from the air. The western slope of Sea Horse drops down to a river called the Matanikau.
Sea Horse and the Matanikau River are on an island called Guadalcanal......

===================

http://www.thepilot.com/news/022206Hero.html
DNA Identifies Flier's Body in China: Hero Returning - Finally

BY JOHN CHAPPELL: Staff Writer

Hoyle Upchurch is coming home. It took a long time.

Upchurch was lost in World War II when his P-40 crashed in China. A monument stands beside the United Methodist Church in High Falls, where he grew up. .....

=======

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/03/airman.identified/
Friday, February 3, 2006; Posted: 10:58 p.m. EST (03:58 GMT)

Frozen WWII airman identified
Climbers found body in glacier, near where training craft crashed

From CNN Correspondent Thelma Gutierrez
and Senior Producer Dree De Clamecy

ORANGE PARK, Florida (CNN) -- The U.S. military has identified the body of a World War II airman that climbers found in October at the bottom of a glacier in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Family members said they learned this week that the man was 22-year-old Army Air Corps cadet Leo Mustonen, who died in a 1942 plane crash......

----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060122/OPED0301/601220314

Airman's remains recovered
Wreckage discovered decades after other remains buried
Published Sunday, Jan 22, 2006

On Sept. 13, 1944, 20-year-old turret gunner Wesley Stuart of French Camp was shot down in his three-man Avenger bomber as it pounded Japanese positions in a desperate battle over a speck of a Pacific island called Peleliu.

Neither Stuart's body, crew mates nor aircraft were ever found

Now, after more than 60 years, Stuart's remains finally may be coming home to his Stockton sister, Mary Roberts, and his other family......

More remains from WWII and Cold War

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MIA Vietnam-Era CIA Pilot Positively Identified

"Earthquake McGoon" Buried With Full Military Honors

===============

Remains of Korean War POW to be buried in central Pa.

The Associated Press

ANNVILLE, Pa.

Lt. Hale returns home

Remains of soldier listed MIA in 1950 coming home

Cpl. Joseph Gregori was reported MIA in 1950. His remains have been identified and will be coming back home in about a month to be buried.

By KALEN CHURCHER

Times Leader (Pa.)

================

DNA reveals Newport's unknown sailor

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, July 14, 2006

Previously 'Unknown' Pearl Harbor Victim Reburied With Full Honors American Forces Press Service

Farewell to a warrior

=======

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/03/airman.identified/ Friday, February 3, 2006; Posted: 10:58 p.m. EST (03:58 GMT)

Frozen WWII airman identified Climbers found body in glacier, near where training craft crashed

Previously 'Unknown' Pearl Harbor Victim Reburied With Full Honors
American Forces Press Service

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/03/airman.identified/
Friday, February 3, 2006; Posted: 10:58 p.m. EST (03:58 GMT)

Frozen WWII airman identified
Climbers found body in glacier, near where training craft crashed