Another Is Accounted For
DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” webpage indicates that the following formerly-missing US personnel have been accounted for.
From World War II
PFC Sanford Bowen, US Army, assigned to the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, was lost in France on 20 January 1945. His family was notified of his accounting on 21 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.
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Author’s Note: DPAA released several press releases last week regarding the accounting of other formerly-missing US personnel. However, the other personnel named in those press releases have all been previously recognized in prior articles here at TAH.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home PFC Bowen. Your service and sacrifice will be remembered.Rest in peace.
Welcome Home Warrior. A Salute to your Service and Honors paid to your Sacrifice.
Thanks Hondo.
Welcome home, PFC Bowen.
Rest well.
Searched for history on the 157th Infantry in ETO, holy shit:
http://www.45thdivision.org/CampaignsBattles/Reipertswiller.htm
http://www.45thdivision.org/CampaignsBattles/157thCombat.htm
Brave doesn’t begin to describe….
Welcome home PFC Bowen.
Welcome home.
Thanks once more, Hondo.
Now, the rest of the story:
PFC.Sanford Keith Bowen was born on 8/13/1918 at West Salem, Ohio and served in Company “I”, 157th Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
He was KIA in Reipertswiller, France on 1/20/1945.
“In early January of 1945, the German Army launched an attack towards the Alsatian Plains with the objective of breaking through to disrupt the Allied attack. This left the 45th Division, then already in Germany, in an exposed position, and the division was ordered to withdraw. The regiment withdrew to positions around Reipertswiller to counter the German penetration, known as the Bitche salient.
-continued-
Compounding the situation at the time, was the fact that the 45th Division had been in almost continuous combat for the preceeding 5 months. The fighting in the heavily forested Vosges Mountains and the subsequent penetration across the German border had been bitter and costly. Rain, snow, and mud made life miserable and supply difficult. Along with heavy battle casualties, sickness, and frozen feet resulted in severely depleted company strengths. There was probably not a rifle company in the division which could muster more than two-thirds of its full compliment of the men. Because of the Battle of the Bulge then nearing its conclusion, the Seventh United States Army, of which the 45th Division was a part, had been stripped of both replacements and units.
-continued-
The failure of their Ardennes offensive, known as the Battle of the Bulge, left the Germans desperate for a victory. In such desperation, a plan was conceived to drive Allied forces fromt he Vosges Mountains of Northern France. Fresh German troops were brought in, and the offensive against the thinly held Allied lines began. Standing squarely in the path of the German drive was the 45th Infantry Division and the 70th Infantry Division, newly arrived from the States, along with supporting troops. And such was the situation in which the exhausted troops of the 45th Division found themselves in early January of 1945, along with bone-chilling snowstorms.
On the morning of January 14, 1945, the regiment, along with other elements of the division, launched a counterattack against the penetrating German forces. The ensuing battle lasted until the evening of January 20.
-continued-
While the German penetration was stopped, the regimental casualties were the heaviest of any single battle of the war. Companies C, G, I, K, L, and M were almost completely wiped out. Other units of the regiment also incurred heavy losses.”
Below is a picture of PFC. Bowen with some of his buddies of the 1st Platoon. This picture was taken on 16 Dec. 1944. He is in the front row, wearing glasses.
Welcome home Brother. Rest in peace now.
Welcome Home.
Killed during OPN Nordwind, overshadowed by the Bulge. Most people forget that Germany managed to work up a second large scale offensive *after* they’d been destroyed on both eastern, western and southern fronts. Fighting in the Vosges was no joke by all accounts.