Another Two Are Accounted For
DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” webpage indicates that the following formerly-missing US personnel have been accounted for.
From World War II
2nd Lt Eugene P. Shauvin, US Army, assigned to the 95th Troop Carrier Squadron, 440th Troop Carrier Group, US Army Air Forces, was lost in Belgium on 17 September 1944. His family was notified of his accounting on 3 March 2022.
SSG Casimir P. Lobacz, US Army, assigned to the 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, was lost in France on 27 September 1944. His family was notified of his accounting on 3 March 2022.
From Korea
None
From Southeast Asia
None
Welcome back, elder brothers-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.
Category: No Longer Missing
Sounds like the Lt might have been a casualty of Market Garden
RIP and welcome home
He was. Follow the link at his name on DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” page (linked above) for more details.
Welcome home.
*Slow Salute*
Welcome Home Warriors. We Salute your Service and will Pay Honors to your Sacrifice.
Thanks Hondo.
Thanks, Hondo.
And now the rest of the story.
Second Lieutenant Pershing Shauvin:
He was born on 26 Dec, 1918 in Spokane, Washington.
In the early fall of 1944, Shauvin was assigned to the 95th Troop Carrier Squadron, 440th Troop Carrier Group. On September 17, 1944, he piloted a C-47 Skytrain (Serial Number 42-100981) with a crew of five and ten pathfinder paratroopers that took off from Chalgrove, England, as part of Operation MARKET GARDEN. It had taken off from air base Chalgrove in England in the early afternoon of 17 September 1944 together with three other Dakotas carrying pathfinder crews of the US 101st Airborne Division. The pathfinders were assigned to drop behind enemy lines in the Netherlands to locate drop zones for the main body of paratroopers.
The C-47 was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Belgium, causing it to crash. Six members of the aircraft’s crew bailed out before it went down, but the remaining nine men, including 2LT Pershing, were killed in the crash.
A few days after the crash, several area residents recovered eight bodies from the crash site and buried them in a nearby common grave. German forces left the area on Sept. 23, and on Sept. 25, the Belgian Red Cross exhumed the remains from the common grave and reinterred them in the Retie village cemetery. In June 1945, the Army’s 3049th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company disinterred 22 sets of American remains associated with numerous air losses from the Retie cemetery and transported them to the U.S. Military Cemetery at Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, for processing. By October 1951, everyone from Shauvin’s aircraft had been identified and accounted for except for Shauvin. He was declared non-recoverable on Oct. 29.
AWARDS:
Air Medal
Purple Heart
Here is a sign posted at the site, that honors 2nd Lt. Shauvin, the crew & the Pathfinders.
Thanks again, SKYJUMPER, for the “rest of the story”. It is muchly appreciated. Draw yourself a double ration of Cheesy Catheads, stuffed with hickory smoked, thick slabbed bacon. And,here…let me freshen that coffee for ya.
SSG Casimir P. Lobacz:
SSG Casimir P. Lobacz was born and raised in Kenosha County, Wisconsin.
SSG. Lobacz held the rank of Staff Sergeant (Service number 36228207) and was attached to the 5th Infantry Division, 11th Infantry Regiment.
He was reported missing and ultimately declared dead on September 27, 1944.
Recorded circumstances attributed to: Missing in action or lost at sea.
COMMENDATIONS
★ World War II Victory Medal
★ Bronze Star
★ Purple Heart
★ Combat Infantryman Badge
★ Marksmanship Badge
★ American Campaign Medal
★ Army Presidential Unit Citation
★ Army Good Conduct Medal
★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign
Welcome Home.
AW1Ed, I have tried posting SSG Casimir P. Lobacz info, but for some reason it’s not posting.
I’ve tried multiple times (after I have waited to see if it has posted), but I keep getting the notice “”duplicate posting”.
Help?? (smile)
Re: SSG. Casimir P Lobacz info.
Thanks Aw1Ed.
You’re they ginchiest. (grin)
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace now.