DPAA – Nine More are Accounted For, and Year End Wrap-Up
During 2018 DPAA identified and announced having accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel. As is sometimes the case, these individual’s accountings were apparently not announced immediately and were later “slip-streamed” into DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” listing. My apologies for not noting these individual’s accountings here at TAH earlier.
From World War II
GM3c Marvin B. Atkins, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. He was accounted for on 11 April 2018.
Pfc Robert K. Holmes, USMC, assigned to assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. He was accounted for on 12 June 2018.
TSgt Harry A. Carlsen, USMC, assigned to Company A, 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 23 July 2018.
ARM3c Walter E. Mintus, US Navy, assigned to Torpedo Squadron Fifty-One (VT-51), was lost in the Republic of Palau on 27 July 1944. He was accounted for on 28 June 2018.
PVT Kenneth D. Farris, US Army, assigned to B Company, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, was lost in Germany on 28 November 1944. He was accounted for on 26 April 2018.
2nd Lt. Hulen A. Leinweber, US Army, assigned to 40th Fighter Squadron, 35th Fighter Group, US Army Air Forces, was lost in the Philippines on 10 June 1945. He was accounted for on 29 June 2018.
From Korea
SGT Eugene W. Yost, US Army, assigned to B Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, was lost in South Korea on 3 September 1950. He was accounted for on 9 April 2018.
MSG Carl H. Lindquist, US Army, assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, was lost in North Korea on 29 November 1950. He was accounted for on 5 June 2018.
1LT Herman L. Falk, US Army, assigned to B Company, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, was lost in South Korea on 12 Feb 1951. He was accounted for on 16 August 2018.
From Southeast Asia
None
Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
You’re home now. Rest easy.
. . .
Over 72,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,600 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; over 1,500 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA); 126 remain unaccounted for from the Cold War; 5 remain unaccounted for from the Gulf Wars; and 1 individual remains unaccounted for from Operation Eldorado Canyon. 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.
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During 2018, DPAA accounted for 205 US personnel who had been declared MIA in various conflicts during the 20th Century. Of those, 156 were from World War II; 39 were from Korea; and 10 were from Southeast Asia.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home.
It is amazing how the USS OKLAHOMA is “giving up its dead” over the past few years.
God Bless them and their families.
Welcome Home Warriors. Hand Salute
Thanks, again, Hondo for these posts.
Fair winds and following seas to all of them.
See you next time around….
“TSgt Harry A. Carlsen, USMC, assigned to Company A, 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion”
“Alligator Marines”
Welcome home Marine.
According to multiple sources, Hulen A. Leinweber hailed from Houston, in Harris county, Texas. That last name is not, I learned, rare in Texas, but the first name is. The 1930 census lists a Lainwober family in Harris county and one of their members was a six-year old boy named Hulen A. Lainwober. He was the youngest of three sons born to Robert and Annie, as of that census. The family lived on Texas Avenue in 1930 and Hulen’s Dad worked for the railroad. Their home, built in 1920, still stands today. When the 1940 census came, the family’s name was recorded as Leinweber. They had moved to another home in Houston and Hulen (17), one of his brothers and their parents lived there.
It appears that Leinweber enlisted in the reserves for Panama Canal Department 17 February 1943 but, whatever his plan, he ended up flying a fighter in the Pacific.
“On June 10, 1945, Leinweber, a member of 40th Fighter Squadron, 35th Fighter Group, was piloting a P-51 aircraft, on a strafing mission targeting a large convoy north of Payawan in Infugao Province, Republic of the Philippines. The aircraft reportedly was struck by anti-aircraft fire, causing the right wing to break off. Leinweber’s aircraft crashed just south of Ilap village. The American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) searched the area south of Ilap village between August 26-28, 1947, locating wreckage but recovering no remains. In October 1947, Leinweber’s remains were declared non-recoverable.” DPAA statement
The wrecked fighter had been located in the 40s but Leinweber’s remains could not be found. Decades later, some remains were discovered and proved to be those of a young man from Houston, Texas: Hulen A. Leinweber. Forever 21. Welcome home.
“I was 8 years old when he came up missing. It’s the only time I ever saw my father cry.“
So said one of Eugene Yost’s sisters, Elsie, of the news that her beloved older brother was gone. Eugene’s remains were recovered three years after combat ended in Korea and he was buried in Hawaii as Unknown 727.
Besides Eugene and Elsie, there were eight other children in the Yost family.
Eugene Yost finally came home to Minnesota in October where a funeral was held. Welcome home.
MSG Carl H. Lindquist, from Minnesota, was World War II Veteran who reportedly was at the Battle of the Bulge. He returned to Willmar, Minnesota after the war but re-enlisted after the communist invasion of South Korea. He fell while in a protective rear-guard action at the Chosen. Welcome home.
“If you know where something is, it ain’t lost.”Today, we finally know where Dayle is.”
The Dayle referred to is Kenneth Dayle Farris of Texas who enlisted in the Army and was killed in 1944 during the infamous Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. He was 19.
“Dayle” was returned home earlier this year and was buried at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. Welcome home, son.
For more than 70 years, he was “Unknown X-82” and buried in Section F Grave 1212 of the Punchbowl. He was a Marine who came ashore at Beito and Fell the first day. His grave, thanks, to History Flight, was ultimately found, he was positively identified, and he was returned home earlier this year to Illinois. There, a procession was held and he was finally laid to rest at home.
I omitted the very reason these posts appear: the name. The Marine previously known as “Unknown X-82” is Harry A. Carlsen. My apologies.
The temperature during the battle of the Chosin Reservoir dropped to 30 below zero. That’s the real temperature. The wind chill was lower still. There were 7500 cases of frostbite. Weapons froze. Equipment was abandoned b/c it could not be moved. If a vehicle had its engine stopped for any length of time, it could not be restarted. Think about what those heroic men underwent. 30 below zero … What heroic men. This information is from Google.
Welcome Home.
Herman Louis Falk was from New York and all of 22 when he died in a POW camp in Korea on or about 12 February 1951. He was a member of The Citadel’s Class of 1950, mere months removed from campus when he found himself in that hellhole Korea, outnumbered, out-gunned, and out-commanded.
Lt Falk’s photo can be found here
http://www.citadel.edu/citadel-history/images/images/fallen-photos/1950-falk-u20100529…resize02.jpg
Below is a link to a picture of Radioman Walter E. Mintus. He, the pilot, and a gunner went down in their Avenger while on a 27 July 1944 mission to strike Malakal Harbor, Palau. https://www.projectrecover.org/mintus-wwii-radioman-accounted-dpaa/
The remains of Marine Robert K. Holmes would still rest in Hawaii but for his nephew. Last year, the nephew, 76-year old Bruce Holmes submitted DNA and the lost Marine was lost no longer. He came home to Utah where a military funeral was held for the 19-year old Marine. Said his nephew, “It’s an amazing thing to see how the military respects their dead.” Never forget.
This is precisely why I included the sentence in my article urging anyone who has a MIA relative from WWII, Korea, or SEA to submit a DNA sample if they qualify. I’d like to think that someone might read the article, do that – and thereby help identify one of our wartime unknowns.
Everyone deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true of those who gave their all in the service of our nation.
I can locate very little information regarding Marvin B. Atkins who was lost at Pearl Harbor. What scant information there is says that he enlisted in the Navy from Arizona on 10 Nov 1939. I can locate no census information but one site lists his father as next-of-kin, a man who served in the US Army and who is buried in Willamette National Cemetery in Oregon. United in service. Welcome home.
Thanks for the add ons Brother A/C, it means a lot to me, and I’m sure, a lot of the other folks.
It is appreciated more than you will know.
Thank you, Hondo and 2/17.
Welcome home, brothers. Apologies that it took so long to bring you home.
Thank you, Hondo.
“And but for the grace of God, go I.”
Rest in Peace, Brothers. I am humbled by your ultimate sacrifice.