Another Two Return from World War II
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing members of the US military.
• Pfc. John F. Prince, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 2 April 2016.
• Pfc. Anthony Brozyna, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 6 April 2016.
Welcome home, elder brothers-in-arms. Rest in peace now. You’re home.
. . .
Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.
DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page. The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to refer you to someone who can answer that question – or may be able to answer the question themselves. If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact one of those POCs for further information.
If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.
Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home brothers.
In a related note, apparently there are people in DC who are questioning the cost of trying to return and identify the remaind of or MIA.
I listened to a very good story on it on NPR on Wednesday where they interviewed one of the forensic scientists who works for JPAC to give names to the remains they have collected, and also some of the families of those that have been identified. It actually made me late for work call as I couldn’t get out of my truck to stop listening. Those diligent people are true unsung heroes. My NCO gave me a pass on being late when I explained it to him.
The ones degrading the cost should explain their reasoning to those families of the MIA in person.
Welcome home, Marines.
Salute.
Bring them all home.
Welcome home and rest in peace in your home soil now. God bless your families.
Both of these Marines were killed by gunshots in combat on Tarawa and were among 40 of the Fallen buried together in 8th Marines Cemetery No 2 on Betio. After the war, the cemetery was beautified and the individual markers were removed and replaced with a common marker. The cemetery was renumbered 27 and the exact locations of the individual graves were lost when temporary buildings were constructed. Among the Marine graves lost was that of Medal-of-Honor Recipient LT A. Bonnyman.
The gunshots were not uncommon on Tarawa. Close fighting was the order of the battle and the Marines and Japs chiefly used bayonets, swords, entrenching tools, pistols, and rifles against one another. Horrific doesn’t begin to describe the ferocity of fight there.
It was Honor Flight, a private, non-profit, that located the lost cemetery of the 8th Marines and made possible the return home of these Marines.
CORRECTION.
It was the work of HISTORY FLIGHT that made possible the return of these Marines.
Welcome home men.
Hand Salute …
Ready to.