Another Is Known
DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” webpage indicates that the following formerly-missing US personnel have been accounted for.
From World War II
S1c John R. Melton , US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS West Virginia, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. His family was notified of his accounting on 29 December 2021.
From Korea
None
From Southeast Asia
None
Welcome back, elder brother-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
Rest easy. You’re home now.
. . .
Over 72,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,500 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,500 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Additionally, 126 US personnel 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. The same is true for remains 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 is found in one of the FAQs.
If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts who has not yet been accounted for 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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Author’s Note: DPAA has apparently been quiet for the last 3 weeks regarding announcing new personnel accounting because they have transitioned their website’s “Recently Accounted For” webpage to a new version. It’s substantially different than before, and some info regarding individuals who have been accounted for isn’t as readily available as it was previously (and in a few cases, apparently is no longer readily available at all). Accordingly, I ask that you please bear with me for a while as I get used to the new DPAA format. I’ll try to keep any “disconnects” to a minimum.
Category: None
Welcome Home Warrior. A Salute to your Service and Honors paid to your Sacrifice.
As DPAA winds down their work on the ID of Heroes lost at Pearl Harbor, I give them a Big BZ for the fine job they have been doing. From what I read, about the only ones they haven’t been able to positively ID are the ones that they don’t have DNA from a relative…in part because there are no relatives left alive.
We must also give Hondo a Great Big BZ for bringing the names of these Warriors to us. Thank You, Good Sir!
Welcome home Brother. Rest in peace now.
Welcome Home.
Welcome home, fallen Warrior. May ye now know only Eternal peace.
*Slow Salute*
The rest of the story:
S1c John R. Melton
“Earl R. Melton, a 24-year-old sailor from Lakewood stationed on a battleship at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, was one of the first to die the day World War II began for the United States.
For two weeks, his parents lived in agony, not knowing the whereabouts of their son. On Dec. 22, they received a heartbreaking telegram from the military. Melton was “among the missing,” according to accounts reported at the time by the Asbury Park Evening Press.
But Melton’s body was never identified among the dead from the USS Oklahoma, one of the first battleships sunk just minutes after the Japanese surprise attack in Hawaii. Now, 76 years later, Melton’s remains have been identified through DNA testing. Melton will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors June 28.
Melton, a machinist’s mate 1st class, was one of the 429 Americans killed on the Oklahoma.
Both Melton and his brother John, 23, a radiotrician, or radio expert, in the Pacific fleet, had not been heard from as of late December 1941. On Feb. 18, 1942, the Navy officially notified the family that Earl Melton was killed in action. But John Melton continued fighting and eventually made it home.
Welcome home sailor, rest in peace.
https://www.app.com/story/news/history/2017/06/26/remains-lakewood-sailor-killed-pearl-harbor-identified/419235001/
https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000014EFFSEA4
Welcome Home, Fallen Warrior.
*Slow Salute*