Five More Return
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
• Pfc George B. Murray, Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on Tarawa Atoll on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 9 June 2017.
• Pvt Archie W. Newell, Company C, 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on Tarawa Atoll on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 12 June 2017.
• 1st Lt. George W. Betchley, 429th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost in Poland on 22 March 1945. He was accounted for on 9 June 2017.
From Korea
• PFC Albert E. Atkins, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, US Army, was lost in South Korea on 23 May 1951. He was accounted for on 13 June 2017.
From Southeast Asia
• Col. Roosevelt Hestle, Jr., 388th Tactical Fighter Squadron, USAF, was lost in North Vietnam on 6 July 1966. He was accounted for on 12 June 2017.
Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
You’re home now. Rest in peace.
. . .
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 DNA from recovered remains against DNA from some (but not all) blood relatives can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.
On their web site’s “Contact Us” page, DPAA now has FAQs. The answer to one of those FAQs describes who can and cannot submit DNA samples useful in identifying recovered remains. The chart giving the answer can be viewed here. The text associated with the chart is short and can be viewed in DPAA’s FAQs.
If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a DNA 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.
Author’s Note: The DPAA by-name listing does not indicate where Col. Hestle was lost. However, the DPAA press release associated with his accounting indicates he was lost near “the town of Thai Ngyuen”. Per Wikipedia, the town of Thai Ngyuen, Vietnam, is in what was formerly North Vietnam.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home, mission accomplished.
Tarawa was a nightmare from the beginning to the end, the young men that got off those boats and Amtracks were made of steel.
They were the bravest of the brave…
Welcome home. Rest in peace in your home soil now. God be with your families.
RIP
Sorry it took so long to bring you home, men. Rest in Peace.
I’m glad you’re home, Brothers. See you in a while.