Another Is Accounted For
Per DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” webpage, the following formerly-missing US Soldier was publicly announced as having been accounted for during the past week.
From World War II
None
From Korea
PFC William J. Sharp, US Army, assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, was lost near Hwanggan, South Korea, on 24 June 1950. His accounting was announced on 23 December 2020. (see note)
From Southeast Asia
None
Welcome back, elder brother-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.
—–
Author’s Note: The location of loss for PFC Sharp is given by DPAA as “Hwanggon, South Korea.” Other sources spell the same South Korean village’s name “Hwanggan”. I’ve opted to use the latter spelling here, as it appears to be more widely used.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home young man.
Welcome home.
I see these from Hondo and I have little response. What I do think of is the countless times I got out of things intact, and I had no business of coming out intact. With all due respect to OMV, I do believe in guardian angels.
RIP, PFC Sharp.
(Thanks, Hondo.)
God bless you, Wolfhound.
Welcome Home.
Welcome home PFC Sharp. Rest in well-deserved peace.
Merry Christmas soldier. We have been waiting for you to come home.
Welcome Home Warrior, PFC William Sharp! We Salute your Service and Pay Honors to your Sacrifice. Loss was on 24 July 1950 (from DARPA link)
Another listed there for this past week was CPL Roy Thomas.
https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/2456499/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-thomas-r/
Thanks Hondo!
I feel particularly bad for these guys that got snuffed in the first few months of the Korean War. Their deaths were on the heads of the American people, who wanted their “peace dividend”, and Harry Truman, who gave them what they wanted, as well as the Army, who decided to make life easier and softer on the troops. From 1946 to 1950, very little went to defense, and only the Marines were ready for war, because they were all volunteer, rabid, well trained, and snatched up everything the Army discarded after WW2 ended.
Imagine being untrained, undisciplined, poorly equipped, and totally out of your league when being hammered by those little North Korean monsters, with no way out, and no way to win. Yet they still tried.