Another Three Return
Per DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” webpage, the following formerly-missing US personnel were publicly announced as having been accounted for during the past week.
From World War II
Pfc John E. Gillen, USMC Reserve, assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, was lost on Beito Island, Tarawa Atoll, on 22 November 1943. His accounting was announced on 15 July 2020.
Pfc John P. Langan, USMC, assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, was lost on Beito Island, Tarawa Atoll, on 22 November 1943. His accounting was announced on 15 July 2020.
From Korea
None
From Southeast Asia
1st Lt. Alva R. Krogman, US Air Force, assigned to 504th Tactical Air Support Group, 7th Air Force and on temporary duty with the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron, was lost in Savannakhet Province, Laos, on 17 January 1967. His accounting was announced on 14 July 2020.
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 7,500 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. 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 is found in one of the 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.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home. May your identification and return provide comfort to your families.
Welcome home , brothers.
So many people waited for so long:
http://www.virtualwall.org/dk/KrogmanAR01a.htm
welcome home brave warrior.
The ranking man who is MIA/KIA from Vermont, is MAJ John Wayne Lafayette, he was shot down in 66 flying the same type of mission in a OV-1A. He survived the crash and was on the run calling for help on his radio when the transmission’s stopped.
Luck of the draw. Draw the wrong assignment and end up in a bad place at the wrong time. Glad I didn’t have to assault Tarawa or Beito Island or thousands of other hells on earth during my enlistment.
While on an operation near the DMZ in 1968 had a bird dog pilot drop via pop flare parachute a bundle of pre read magazines. What a boost to moral that was! If you are reading this, thank you for that bundle of a taste of home.
Hand Salute to all returned.
I see that one was returned from Southeast Asia, so there must be work going on in that area. So perhaps the body of Mr. Aston, (KIA on 18 July 71/BNR) pilot of Black Widow UH-1H #68-15671 that went down in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam due east of the Laotian city of Ban Bac, will someday be returned.
We’ll be waiting, as a man is not truly dead as long as a memory of him still exists within his comrades-in-arms.
Welcome Home Warriors. We Salute your Service and pay Honors to your Sacrifice. Rest easy.
Thanks Hondo for your work in bringing these stories to us. And Thanks to 26Limabeans and Sapper3307 for their added info. More Thanks due to Steve 1371 for saying out loud what many of have thought. We have all been told, “It can always be/get worse.” Island hopping during the Pacific Campaign was “be/get worse” writ large.
Welcome home Brotheres. Rest in peace in your home soil now.
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.