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

He is Staff Sgt. Jimmie Doyle, U.S. Army Air Forces, of Lamesa, Texas.  He will be buried April 25 in Lamesa.

Representatives from the Army's Mortuary Affairs Office met with Doyle'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 September 1, 1944, Doyle was one of eleven men on board a B-24J Liberator bomber that was shot down while on a bombing reconnaissance mission of enemy targets near the town of Koror, Republic of Palau.  Three of the crewmen parachuted from the aircraft and died while prisoners of the Japanese, and the other eight crewmen, including Doyle, went down with the plane into the sea between Babelthuap and Koror islands.

In 2004, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team conducted an underwater investigation of aircraft wreckage submerged off the southern coast of Babelthuap Island.  Between 2005 and 2008, combined JPAC/U.S. Navy Mobile Diving and Salvage teams excavated the site three times and recovered human remains and material evidence, including machine guns bearing serial numbers that match those of guns mounted on this plane, and identification media for three of the crewmen on the plane. 

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 Doyle's remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, (click here) or call (703) 699-1420.

‘Pop’ comes home

Robert Schoening was a skinny 17-year-old from a dairy farm in Blaine when he lied about his age and joined the army. He went to Korea, where his company came under intense enemy attack, and Schoening was listed missing in action on Nov. 27, 1950.

Nearly 60 years later, the U.S. Department of Defense announced last week that it had identified Schoening's remains. He will be buried in June at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., with full military honors.

"It's a great honor to be buried at Arlington," said his brother, William Schoening, 76, of Salem, Ore. He had learned in December that the government had identified his older brother, and was flooded with a mix of feelings: Gratitude that he was home, relief that he hadn't been imprisoned, sadness that he had suffered violently.

"I had tears in my eyes," he said.

Schoening's remains were one of 229 sets recovered from North Korea from 1996 to 2005, when it became too dangerous for American teams to continue working in the country.

Of those remains, 61 have been identified. In addition to Schoening's identity, the Defense Department also announced identities of four other soldiers last week. Since 1982, a total of 100 Korean War veteran remains have been identified.

"We are prepared to go back," said Larry Greer, spokesman for the department's POW/MIA office. "We have developed plans, but at the moment it is not national policy."

He said Schoening was identified through dental records and mitochondrial DNA, which is passed through the maternal bloodline. Investigators were able to match his DNA with that of his siblings.

William Schoening said his brother was inspired to enlist by their two older brothers, who had served in the navy. But when his brother went to a navy recruiter in Bellingham, he was rejected, because he wasn't yet 18. Schoening believes his brother then lied about his birthday to the army.

While on the front lines in Korea, Robert Schoening wrote his sister Minnie.

"Hi Sis, how's every little thing with you these days?" he said. He wrote about their sister's pregnancy, a gun shot to his leg, a friend who had been injured and sent home from the war.

"Why if that damn red bullet had hit a bone in my thigh, I'd be home too. But I just wasn't that lucky…" he wrote. "I'll write you when I can find some time. Your loving brother, Bob."

That was the last time his family heard from him. Twenty-three days later, his company -- Company C, 65th Combat Engineer Battalion, 25th Infantry Division -- was occupying a position near Hill 222, when the Chinese launched a brutal attack that included hand-to-hand combat, Schoening said.

A telegram later arrived at his parents' farm, saying their son -- a funny, easy-going, dark-haired teenager -- was missing in action. "It was very, very sad," Schoening said.

The identification comes too late for many of his seven siblings. But he and his two older sisters, who are 84 and 86 and living in retirement homes, are planning to attend his burial.

Remains of Kentucky soldier in Korean War identified

Man to be buried April 13 in Camp Nelson National Cemetery