Eight More Are Home
DPMO has announced the identification of one US MIA from World War II, six US MIAs from from Korea, and one US MIA from Southeast Asia (SEA).
- PFC. William T. Carneal, Company D, 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, US Army, was lost on 7 July 1944, in Saipan. He was accounted for on 21 January 2014. He will be buried with full military honors on 25 April 2014 in Paducah, KY.
- CPL William F. Day, Company C, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 31st Regimental Combat Team, US Army, was lost on 2 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 6 March 2014. He will be buried with full military honors 5 April 2014 in La Center, KY.
- PFC Donald C. Durfee, Company M, 31st Infantry Regiment, 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), US Army, was lost on 2 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 30 January 2014. He will be buried on 7 March 2014 in Rittman, OH.
- SFC John C. Keller, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, US Army, was lost on 2 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 29 January 2014. He will be buried with full military honors during May 2014 in Florida National Cemetery.
- PFC Arthur Richardson, Company A, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 1 January 1951 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 21 March 2014. He will be buried with full military honors; date and place were not announced.
- SGT Paul M. Gordon, Company H, 2nd Battalion. 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 7 January 1951 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 12 February 2014. He will be buried with full military honors on 20 June 2014 in Williamstown, KY.
- Cpl William S. Blasdel, Company H, 3rd Battalion, 11th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, USMC, was lost 28 October 1953 in North Korea. He was accounted for 10 March 2014. He will be buried with full military honors this spring in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific; date was not announced. (Note: DPMO gives Cpl Blasdel’s date of loss as 28 October 1953. Since that date is well after the armistice ending hostilities in Korea, I believe the DPMO-provided date of loss to be in error. Other sources give Cpl Blasdel’s date of loss as 28 November 1950.)
- Capt. Douglas D. Ferguson, 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, USAF, was lost on 30 December 1969 in Laos. He was accounted for on 5 March 2014. He will be buried with full military honors on 2 May 2014 in Lakewood, WA.
Welcome home, my elder brothers-in-arms. Rest now in peace.
. . .
Over 73,600 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,640 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. If you are a relative of one of the individuals listed here (World War II – critical need), listed here (Korea), or listed here (Southeast Asia) – please consider reading this link to see if you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample.
If you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please submit one. By submitting a mtDNA sample, you may be able to help identify US remains that have been recovered and repatriated but not yet positively identified.
Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all in the service of this nation.
Category: No Longer Missing
Always great to hear. And a relief for their families.
Welcome home, boys.
Sleep well.
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in the Peace of God’s hands now.
These stories never leave me unaffected. I can’t help but think of the families who saw their loved one off to war, only to later learn he was missing and, later, presumed dead. It’s as if the families were twice made to suffer, first with their loss and then being denied knowing the fate of their, husband, father, son, or brother. PFC Carneal will be buried beside his sister on April 25th. The family could have accepted the offer of burial at Arlington but declined to have him home, with family. April 25th is PFC Carneal’s birthday. Here is a link to a war time photo of him and two brief newspaper pieces, first of his being MIA and, later, of his being presumed dead. God bless each of these men and their families. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56117283
My wife, Paula Richardson Medeiros, is the niece of PFC Arthur Richardson. In our over 25 years together as husband and wife we have hoped to see her uncle returned to us. His identification for us has been bittersweet. Since my wife’s older cousin is next of kin, she has chosen to have him interred at Arlington. Our choice is to return him to Fall River, MA to be buried beside his twin sister who died in 1935 at the age of 14. The grave has been there all these years awaiting his return, but sadly he will not rest with his sister, nor at the feet of his mother and father.
Welcome home men … rest well!
I almost typed, “Not that it matters,” but it does. Cpl Blasdel should be listed as Battery H not Company H. DPMO has it wrong on their site. He was a member of 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines, an artillery battalion, and was lost at the Chosin Reservoir on 28 Nov 1950. The 1953 date they have is the day he went from ‘missing’ to ‘missing, presumed dead.’
From a grateful nation who never forgets…even with all of our problems. This makes me proud.
Rest easy. We have the watch.