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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 292-12
April 19, 2012
 

Soldier Missing in Action from Korean War Identified

            The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office 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.

            Army Pfc. Richard E. Clapp, 19, of Seattle, Wash., will be buried April 25, at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

            On Sept. 2, 1950, Clapp and the C Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment came under fire near Yulchon, South Korea, and Clapp was killed in action.  The Army was unable to identify his remains at the time, and the remains were buried as "Unknown" in a military cemetery on the Korean Peninsula.

            In 1951, the U.S. consolidated cemeteries on the peninsula.  The unknown remains were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

            In 2011, due to advances in identification technology, the remains were exhumed for identification.  Scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools such as radiograph comparison, and dental records to identify Clapp.

            Today, more than 7,900 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Korean War.  Identifications continue to be made from the remains that were returned to the United States, using forensic and DNA technology.

            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 703-901-7097.

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Brashear

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 897-11
October 21, 2011
 

Aircrew Missing in Action from WWII Identified
 

     The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of 10 servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

     Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Robert R. Bishop of Joliet, Ill.; 2nd Lt. Thomas Digman, Jr. of Pittsburgh; 2nd Lt. Donald W. Hess of Sioux City, Iowa; 2nd Lt. Arthur W. Luce, of Fort Bragg, Calif.; Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Karaso, of Philadelphia; Staff Sgt. Ralph L. McDonald of East Point, Ga.; Sgt. John P. Bonnassiolle of Oakland, Calif.; Sgt. James T. Blong of Port Washington, Wis.; Sgt. Michael A. Chiodo of Cleveland; and Sgt. John J. Harringer, Jr. of South Bend, Ind., will be buried as a group, in a single casket representing the entire crew, on Oct. 26, in Arlington National Cemetery. Hess and Karaso will be interred individually in Arlington National Cemetery.

     On April 29, 1944, the 10 airmen were ordered to carry out a bombing mission over Berlin, Germany, in their B-24J Liberator aircraft, piloted by Bishop and Luce. German documents captured after the war noted that the aircraft crashed near the town of East Meitze, Germany, and there were no survivors. German forces buried the remains of Digman, Blong, and one unknown airman in a cemetery near Hannover, Germany, around the time of the crash. In 1946, the Army Graves Registration Service exhumed the remains of the three individuals for identification and reburied them in a U.S. Military Cemetery in Condroz, Belgium.

     In 2003, a German national located the site of the crash and recovered human remains, which were turned over to U.S. officials. In 2005, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the crash site and gathered additional human remains, military equipment, and metal identification tags for Bishop, Blong, Bonnassiolle, and Harringer. The team also recovered a class ring with the initials AWL -- presumably belonging to Luce. In 2007, a JPAC team completed the site excavation and found additional evidence that helped to confirm the identity of the crew.

     Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used dental analysis and mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of some of the crewmembers' families -- in the identification of their remains.

     At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 73,000 remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.

     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 703-699-1420.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 856-11
October 05, 2011
 

U.S. Soldier MIA from Korean War Identified
 

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

            Army Cpl. Edward M. Pedregon of El Paso, Texas, will be buried on Oct. 6 in Arlington National Cemetery.  A memorial service was held in San Elizario, Texas, on Oct. 1.  In late November 1950 Pedregon and the Heavy Mortar Company, of the 31^st Regimental Combat Team  known as Task Force Faith  were overrun by Chinese forces near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea.  After several days of heavy attacks, Task Force Faith was forced to withdraw, but was stopped by enemy blockades that overpowered them on Dec. 2, 1950.  Pedregon was reported missing in action on Nov. 30, 1950.

            In 1953, following the exchange of all prisoners of war by both sides of the conflict, no further information was gained to indicate that Pedregon had been held as a prisoner of war, and he was declared dead.

            In 2004, a joint U.S./Korean People's Army team excavated several sites in the Chosin Reservoir area and recovered the remains of at least nine individuals and military equipment.  The location of the remains corresponds to the positions temporarily held by elements of Task Force Faith in late November 1950.

            Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used dental records, and mitochondrial DNA  which matched that of Pedregon's mother and brotherin the identification of the remains.

            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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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 805-11
September 20, 2011
 

Airmen Missing in Action from WWII Identified
 

     The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of 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.

     Army Air Forces 1st Lt. William J. Sarsfield of Philadelphia; 2nd Lt. Charles E. Trimingham of Salinas, Calif.; Tech. Sgt. Robert L. Christopherson of Blue Earth, Minn.; and Tech. Sgt. Leonard A. Gionet of Shirley, Mass., will be buried as a group in a single casket on Sept. 21 in Arlington National Cemetery, along with remains representing previously identified crew members 2nd Lt. Herman H. Knott, 2nd Lt. Francis G. Peattie, Staff Sgt. Henry Garcia, Staff Sgt. Robert E. Griebel, and Staff Sgt. Pace P. Payne, who were individually buried in 1985. These nine airmen were ordered to carry out a bombing mission over Rabaul, Papau New Guinea (P.N.G.), in their B-17E Flying Fortress nicknamed Naughty but Nice, taking off from an airfield near Dobodura, P.N.G., on June 26, 1943. The aircraft was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and ultimately shot down by Japanese fighter aircraft. A tenth man, the navigator and only survivor of the crash -- 2nd Lt. Jose L. Holguin -- was held as a prisoner of war until his release in September 1945.

     In 1949, U.S. military personnel in the area were led by local citizens to a B-17 crash site on New Britain Island. Remains were recovered but couldn't be identified given the technology of the time. The remains were buried as unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

     In 1982 and 1983, Holguin returned to the area and located the crash site. A fragment of the aircraft nose art was recovered and is displayed in the War Museum in Kokopo, P.N.G. In 1985, the remains were exhumed and identified as Knott, Payne, Garcia, Peattie, and Griebel. In 2001, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated the site and found additional human remains and crew-related equipment.

     Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of some of the crewmembers' families -- in the identification of their remains.

     At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted for from the conflict.

     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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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 692-11
August 08, 2011

 

Soldier Missing in Action from WWII Identified
 

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

            Army Pfc. William F. Stehlin of Dayton, Ky., will be buried on Aug. 11 in Arlington National Cemetery.  On Nov. 20, 1944, Stehlin, as part of the 333^rd Infantry Regiment, 84^th Infantry Division, went missing near S?gerath while his unit conducted a largely successful offensive to capture towns in Western Germany. In 1951, after an extensive search, his remains were determined unrecoverable by U.S. Army Graves Registration personnel.

            In 2009, a German citizen digging in a wooded area near S?gerath, discovered a grave with the remains of two individuals, military-related equipment and identification tags. 

            Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command laboratory also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.  The other individual, Pfc. Edward L. O'Toole, was identified and buried on July 15 in San Bruno, Calif.

            Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 660-11
July 28, 2011

 

Missing World War II Soldiers Indentified
 

                  The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced Monday that the remains 12 U.S. 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 Army Air Forces 1^st Lt. Jack E. Volz, 21, of Indianapolis; 2^nd Lt. Regis E. Dietz, 28, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; 2^nd Lt. Edward J. Lake, 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; 2^nd Lt. Martin P. Murray, 21, of Lowell, Mass.; 2^nd Lt. William J. Shryock, 23, of Gary, Ind.; Tech. Sgt. Robert S. Wren, 25, of Seattle, Wash.; Tech. Sgt. Hollis R. Smith, 22, of Cove, Ark.; Staff Sgt. Berthold A. Chastain, 27, Dalton, Ga.; Staff Sgt. Clyde L. Green, 24, Erie, Pa.; Staff Sgt. Frederick E. Harris, 23, Medford, Mass.; Staff Sgt. Claude A. Ray, 24, Coffeyville, Kan.; and Staff Sgt. Claude G. Tyler, 24, Landover, Md. The remains representing the entire crew will be buried as a group, in a single casket, Aug. 4 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.  Eight of the airmen were identified and buried as individuals during previous ceremonies.  Shryock, Green and Harris were also individually identified and will be interred individually at Arlington on the same day as the group interment. 

                  These 12 airmen were ordered to carry out a reconnaissance mission in their B-24D Liberator, taking off from an airfield near Port Moresby, New Guinea, on Oct. 27, 1943. Allied plans were being formulated to mount an attack on the Japanese redoubt at Rabaul, New Britain.  American strategists considered it critical to take Rabaul in order to support the eventual invasion of the Philippines.  The crew's assigned area of reconnaissance was the nearby shipping lanes in the Bismarck Sea.  But during their mission, they were radioed to land at a friendly air strip nearby due to poor weather conditions.  The last radio transmission from the crew did not indicate their location, and in the following weeks, multiple searches over land and sea areas did not locate the aircraft. 

                  Following World War II, the Army Graves Registration Service conducted investigations and searches for 43 missing airmen, including these airmen, in the area but concluded in June 1949 that they were unrecoverable.

                  In August 2003, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) received information on a crash site from a citizen in Papua New Guinea while they were investigating another case.  He also turned over an identification card from one of the crew members and reported that there were possible human remains at the site of the crash.  Twice in 2004 other JPAC teams attempted to visit the site but were unable to do so due to poor weather and hazardous conditions at the helicopter landing site.  Another team was able to successfully excavate the site from January to March 2007 where they found several identification tags from the B-24D crew as well as human remains. 

                  Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA - which matched that of some of the crewmembers' families - in the identification of their remains.

                 Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died.  At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans.  Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict.

                  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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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 623-11
July 18, 2011

Missing World War II Soldiers Identified
 

            The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of 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.

            Army Pfc. Lawrence N. Harris, of Elkins, W.V., Cpl. Judge C. Hellums, of Paris, Miss., and Pvt. Donald D. Owens, of Cleveland, will be buried as a group, in a single casket, on July 20 in Arlington National Cemetery.  In late September 1944, their unit, the 773^rd Tank Battalion, was fighting its way east to France's eastern border, clearing German forces out of the Parroy Forest near Lun?ille.  On Oct. 9, 1944, in the final battle for control of the region, Hellums, Harris, Owens and two other soldiers were attacked by enemy fire in their M-10 Tank Destroyer.  Two men survived with serious injuries but Harris, Hellums and Owens were reported to have been killed. Evidence at the time indicated the remains of the men had been destroyed in the attack and were neither recovered nor buried near the location.

            In November 1946, a French soldier working in the Parroy Forest found debris associated with an M-10 vehicle and human remains, which were turned over to the American Graves Registration Command.  The remains were buried as unknowns in what is now known as the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.  A year later the AGRC returned to the Parroy Forest to conduct interviews and search for additional remains.  Investigators noted at that time that all remains of U.S. soldiers had reportedly been removed in the last two years and that the crew was likely buried elsewhere as unknowns.

            In 2003, a French citizen exploring the Parroy Forest discovered human remains and an identification bracelet engraved with Hellums' name, from a site he had probed occasionally since 1998.  The information was eventually sent to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC).  In April 2006, the man turned over the items to a JPAC team working in Europe.  A few months later a second JPAC team returned to the site and recovered more human remains, personal effects and an identification tag for Owens.

            Historians at DPMO and JPAC continued their research on the burials at the Ardennes Cemetery, and drew a correlation to those unknowns removed from the 1944 battle site.   In early 2008 JPAC disinterred these remains and began their forensic review.

            Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons for the men and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of each soldier's relatives in the identification of their remains.

            At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 Americans.  Today, more than 72,000 remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.

            For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, call 571-422-9059 or visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo .

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 539-11
June 22, 2011
 

Airmen Missing In Action from WWII Identified
 

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

            Capt. Leonard E. Orcutt, Alameda, Calif., was buried on May 5 in Oakland, Calif; Tech. Sgt. Louis H. Miller, Philadelphia, was buried on June 17 in Arlington National Cemetery; Staff Sgt. George L. Winkler, Huntington, W.Va., was buried May 5 in Arlington National Cemetery;  2nd Lt. Harry L. Bedard, Minneapolis, will be buried on June 25 in Dayton, Minn.; and 2nd Lt. Robert S. Emerson, Norway, Maine, will be buried July 9 in his hometown.

            On April 3, 1945, Orcutt and his crew took off in their B-25J Mitchell bomber from Palawan Field, Philippines.  The pilot of another aircraft in the flight reported seeing Orcutt's plane stall out and crash about one mile northeast of the village of Consolacion in a swampy area. There were no survivors.

            In early 1947, personnel from the Army's Graves Registration Service recovered additional remains from the crash site and buried them as unknowns in Leyte, Philippines.  Later that year, they were exhumed and transferred to Manila for possible identification.  In 1949, a military review board declared these unknown group remains to be those of the aircrew and re-buried them at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo.

            Two years later, the Graves Registration Service returned to the crash site and recovered additional remains.  The case was reanalyzed and a recommendation was made that the group remains at Jefferson Barracks be disinterred for individual identification.  All remains from the crash site were examined with no resulting identification.  They were reburied at the same location.  A sister of one of the airmen contacted the Army in 2001 upon learning of the recovery of additional remains in the 1950s.  The Army then disinterred the group remains at Jefferson Barracks in 2008 which were taken to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hawaii for identification.

            Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of relatives of the aircrew -- in the identification of these airmen. 

            At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans.  Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict.

            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.

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 531-11
June 20, 2011

Airman Missing in Action From WWII Identified
 

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

                 Army Staff Sgt. Marvin J. Steinford, of Keystone, Iowa, will be buried on June 21 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  On March 24, 1945, Steinford, along with nine other crew members, bailed out of their B-17G Flying Fortress bomber over Gic, Hungary.  It had been hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire while on a bombing mission over Germany.  Steinford and another crew member were struck by small arms fire while parachuting into a firefight between Soviet and German forces.  The remains of the other crew member were found after the war where they had been buried by Hungarian villagers.  The remaining eight members of the aircrew were captured by the Germans, held as POWs, and released at the end of the war.

                 According to accounts gathered by U.S. Army Graves Registration Service personnel in the late 1940s, Steinford's body was seen beside a German tank near Gic, but no further details about his exact whereabouts were recorded.  Growing tensions in Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe closed off further U.S. access to Hungary.

                 In January 2003, in an effort to develop archival leads in Hungary from the Vietnam War, Korean and Cold Wars and World War II, a U.S. commissioner with the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs met with Hungarian officials in Budapest.  Additional follow-up in Hungary by a DPMO researcher began to uncover specific information related to Steinford's loss.  A second DPMO staff member, assisted by Hungarian academics and researchers, discovered archives and interviewed villagers who related first-hand information about the B-17G crash.  Shortly thereafter the U.S. Embassy in Budapest notified DPMO that a local cemetery director had information directly related to Steinford. 

                 He related that during a 2004 excavation and transfer of Soviet soldiers' remains at a war memorial and grave site in the city of Zirc, Hungarian workers discovered remains with a set of identification tags that bore Steinford's name.  The dog tags were removed and all remains were transferred to another site on the outskirts of Zirc.  What was believed to be Steinford's remains were marked with the Hungarian word "Cedulas," [translation: the one with the tags] and reburied.  The dog tags were returned to U.S. officials in March 2005.

                 From 2005 through late 2007, DPMO facilitated negotiations between U.S., Hungarian and Russian officials.  Finally, in December 2007, the U.S. chairman of the commission secured agreement with the Russian first deputy minister of defense to allow a July 2009 exhumation from the war memorial site by specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. 

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

                 At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans.  Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict.

                 For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo.  Photos are available of Steinford and can be obtained by calling 703-699-1169.

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 500-11
June 13, 2011
 

Soldier Missing from Korean War 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 are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

            Army Cpl. A.V. Scott, 27, of Detroit, Mich., will be buried June 22 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.  On Feb. 12, 1951, Scott's unit, the 503^rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2^nd Infantry Division, was supplying friendly forces approximately 70 miles east of Seoul, South Korea, when Chinese Communist units attacked the area and forced a withdrawal.  Scott was captured by enemy forces and marched north to a prisoner-of-war camp in Suan County, North Korea.  Surviving POWs within the camp reported Scott died in April 1951.

            Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200 to 400 U.S. servicemen.  North Korean documents turned over with one of the boxes indicated the remains were exhumed near Suan County, which correlates with Scott's last known location. 

            Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used dental comparisons, and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of Scott's cousins, in the identification.  

            More than 2,000 servicemen died as prisoners of war during the Korean War.  With this identification, 7,993 service members remain missing from the conflict.

            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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