Six More Are Accounted For
DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” webpage and/or recent press releases indicate that the following formerly-missing US personnel have been accounted for.
From World War II
PFC John L. Ferguson, US Army, assigned to the 28th Materiel Squadron, U.S. Army Air Forces, was lost at Cabanatuan POW Camp, Philippines, on 10 December 1942. His accounting was announced on 14 July 2022.
2nd Lt Pharis E. Weekley, US Army, assigned to the 328th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, was lost IVO Ploesti, Romania, on 1 August 1943. His accounting was announced on 14 July 2022.
SSG Moses F. Tate, US Army, assigned to 415th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, was lost IVO Ploesti, Romania, on 1 August 1943. His accounting was announced on 14 July 2022.
SGT Herald R. Boyd, US Army, assigned to 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, was lost IVO Berlin, Germany, on 3 February 1945. His accounting was announced on 13 June 2022.
From Korea
PVT Felix M. Yanez, US Army, assigned Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, was lost north of Taejon, South Korea, on 1 July 1950. His accounting was announced on 14 July 2022.
PFC Melvin J. Little Bear, US Army, assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, was lost IVO Changbong-ni,, South Korea, on 21 July 1951. His accounting was announced on 14 July 2022.
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.
—–
Author’s Note: an earlier “No Longer Missing” article indicated that SSG George B. Walker, US Army Air Forces, had been lost during a bombing raid IVO Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Information I subsequently discovered indicates that he in fact survived the raid, was taken POW, and died after being shot while trying to escape from Stalag Luft 6 IVO Heydekrug, Germany (formerly in East Prussia, now in Lithuania). The original article has been corrected; my apologies for the earlier error.
Category: No Longer Missing
Thank You, Hondo, for sharing.
Looking forward in reading The Rest Of The Story from our very own SKYJUMPER.
Rest In Peace To All. Never Forget. Salute.
Bring Them All Home.
The Soldiers mentioned in Hondo’s post died while serving our Country.
2 years ago, Brittney Griner did this:
“Brittney Griner, Brianna Turner Call For WNBA To Stop Playing National Anthem This Season”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/28/brittney-griner-brianna-turner-call-wnba-stop-playing-national-anthem-this-season/
Do you think she will change her mind?
No. She won’t. Introspection is sorely lacking in that crowd.
Reading these always bring welcome news. My own granddad disappeared in 1947 over the Aleutians. My grandmom always believed the Soviets shot him down but he doesn’t appear on the Cold War MIA listing. (And it would be the earliest Russian shoot-down, if so.)
Maybe some day someone will discover a missing PB4Y2 on the bottom. Until then, I’m happy to see all these others accounted for.
Thanks again, hondo.
And now the rest of the story.
PFC John L. Ferguson:
In late 1941, 20 year old Ferguson was a member of the 28th Materiel Squadron, U.S. Army Air Forces, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and interned at POW camps. Ferguson was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical records, Ferguson died Dec. 10, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 917.
2nd Lt Pharis E. Weekley;
He was born on June 18, 1922 in Clewiston, Florida (Hendry County), but He also had some family connections to the area of Avon Park, Highlands county, Florida.
He was on the crew of the B-24D Liberator #42-40804 “the Lady Jane / Bertha” to hit the oil refineries at Benzagi, Romania. They crashed and burst into flames in the target area, from an altitude of less than 300 feet.
This was a mission during “Operation Tidal Wave” one of the most daring raids of the war. Coming in at tree top level, the 93rd attacked the Concordia-Vega oil refinery around Ploesti. All of the crews received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Presidential Unit Citation.
COMMENDATIONS
★ Distinguished Flying Cross
★ Air Medal
★ Purple Heart
★ World War II Victory Medal
★ American Campaign Medal
★ Army Presidential Unit Citation
★ Army Good Conduct Medal
★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign
2nd Lt Pharis E. Weekley
SSG Moses F. Tate:
SSG Tate was born in Kansas.
On August 1, 1943, a B-24D Liberator bomber (serial number 42-40520) carrying ten crew members took off in a formation from an airfield in Benghazi, Libya, as part of Operation TIDAL WAVE, a large-scale aerial attack against German oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania. On approach to the target, the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Three crewmembers bailed out from the rear before the aircraft crashed in flames near a refinery. They survived, but the other seven crew members did not, and their remains were not recovered.
The remaining crew still unaccounted for:
GODDE; RUSSELL H.
2d Lt
Unaccounted For
JOHNSTON; TURNER Y
T Sgt
Unaccounted For
KONECNY; HARRY G.
T Sgt
Unaccounted For
MARRAH; JAMES H
2d Lt
Unaccounted For
MCGUIRE; EDWARD T
1st Lt
Unaccounted For
SCHIWETZ, MAX H
1st Lt
Unaccounted For
SSG Moses F. Tate
SGT Herald R. Boyd:
SGT Boyd was born on June 23, 1919 in Sinton, Texas (San Patricio County)
He attended high school for 4 years and worked on a farm before he joined the army.
Herald R Boyd joined the Air Corps of the Regular Army at Fort Sam Houston, Texas on 27 November 1941. His military occupation or specialty was Right Waist Gunner.
In February 1945, Boyd was assigned to 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force in the European Theater. On Feb. 3, the B-17G Flying Fortress bomber on which he was serving as a gunner, was part of a large mission to bomb the Tempelhof marshalling yard in Berlin. Boyd’s bomber was one of 21 B-17s lost during the mission. Witnesses from other aircraft said the bomber had been struck by a ground rocket immediately after dropping its bombs. The pilot tried to save the plane, but he was unsuccessful, and it crashed in a residential area of Berlin.
Seven of the nine crew members were killed. The other two were captured and became prisoners of war. German records do not list Boyd among bodies recovered from the wreckage. One of the surviving crew members confirmed Boyd had been killed in the crash,
His airplane was hit by flak on the right wing, reported to have been a ground rocket, just after bombs away. Starboard engines began to flame and the plane was nosed over in a steep dive apparently in an effort to extinguish the fire. A few seconds later, it pulled up in a half roll, then did a split S and went down. When last seen the plane was nearly enveloped in fire. Seven crew members were killed.
COMMENDATIONS
★ World War II Victory Medal
★ Air Medal
★ Purple Heart
★ American Campaign Medal
★ Army Presidential Unit Citation
★ Army Good Conduct Medal
★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign
SGT Herald R. Boyd
PVT Felix M. Yanez:
PVT Yanez of Cochise County, Arizona enlisted in the United States Army. Yanez, age 19, held the rank of Private E-2. His military occupation or specialty was Light Weapons Infantryman. He was attached to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division.
He was killed in action fighting the North Korean People’s Army along the Kum River, north of Taejon, South Korea, on July 16, 1950.
NOTE: One article I found said he died as a POW.
COMMENDATIONS
★ Purple Heart
★ Combat Infantryman Badge
★ Marksmanship Badge
★ Korean Service Medal
★ National Defense Service Medal
★ Republic of Korea Presidential Citation
★ Republic of Korea War Service Medal
★ United Nations Service Medal
★ Army Presidential Unit Citation
★ Army Good Conduct Medal
PFC Melvin J. Little Bear:
PFC Little Bear was born in Little Eagle, South Dakota on 23 Feb 1930 to John Little Bear and Etta Firecloud Little Bear.
In 1951, Little Bear was a member of Able Battery, 15th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Feb. 13 after his unit was attacked by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces and conducted a two-day withdrawal from Changbong-ni, South Korea, to Wonju. He had been captured and was a prisoner of war at POW Camp No. 1 in North Korea. Repatriated POWs reports and information from Chinese and North Korean forces said he died in captivity on or about July 21, 1951.
Welcome home.
Welcome Home Warriors. A Salute to your Service and Honors paid to your Sacrifice.
Thanks Hondo. The work you do in bringing these names to us is highly commendable.
And Thanks, too, for our SKYJUMPER, in bringing us the rest of the story on these Warriors. The epitome of “Say their Names…Be their Witness.”
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace now.
Welcome Home.
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
Rest Well.
(h/t to Hondo and Skyjumper for keep us in-the-know)