Three More Accounted For
Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Mitts, W.)
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Navy Aviation Radioman First Class Wilbur A. Mitts, 24, killed during World War II, was accounted for Feb. 23, 2023.In the fall of 1944, Mitts was the Aviation Radioman assigned to the Navy Torpedo Squadron 20, USS Enterprise. On Sept. 10, Mitts and two other crew members abroad the TBM-1C Avenger Bureau Number, 17018 took off from the USS Enterprise on a mission to conduct air strikes against enemy targets in Malakal Naval District, Palau Islands. Their aircraft was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed into water near Malakal. Efforts to recover Mitts’ remains were unsuccessful.
Pilot Accounted For From World War II (Minogue, J.)
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. John F. Minogue, 24, of Richfield, California, killed during World War II, was accounted for Aug. 23, 2022.
In the summer of 1943, Minogue was assigned to the 328th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber on which Minogue was the co-pilot was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following the war. The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel, disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification. The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.
To identify Minogue’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.
Minogue’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Minogue will be buried in Fullerton, California on April 20, 2023.
Soldier Accounted For From World War II (McKeon, M.)
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Tech Sgt. Matthew L. McKeon, 25, of Euclid, California, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 12, 2023.
In November 1944, McKeon was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Hürtgen, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was reported killed in action on Nov. 9. His remains could not be recovered during the battle.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950 but were unable to identify McKeon’s remains. He was declared nonrecoverable on Dec. 15, 1950.
While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-4458 Neuville, recovered near the town of Hürtgen in 1946 possibly belonged to a service member missing from combat in November 1944, such as McKeon. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in June 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.
To identify McKeon’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
McKeon’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margraten, Netherlands, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
McKeon will be buried in San Diego, California on date yet to be determined.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home and thank you for our freedom.
What the hell is this? Why is it here?
Martinjmpr’s profile has been hacked by a spammer.
We’re on it. Thanks.
The thing that always haunted me most was the thought of those who went missing. The lack of closure their families felt for a lifetime, combined with watching others returning home to the lives they left behind and starting families of their own must have just been soul shattering. I always felt that if your son, husband, brother or uncle went missing in 1944, your life in many ways ended there as well.
Of all the members of my church growing up since its founding in 1920, only one man went missing — a pilot in the Second World War who disappeared without a trace. I was born long after the fact but was always told his parents, especially his mother, were never the same since he was the only child.
Stories like the ones above bring me some peace and solace even as an outsider and I hope it does the same for their descendants.
Thank you all for your service; past and present, in war and peace.
Welcome Home Warriors. We Salute your Service and Pay Honors to your Sacrifice.
Every Fallen Warrior deserves, at the very least, a Marked Resting Place. Say their names…be their witness…Never forget!
Thanks, Dave.
Thank God Almighty for their account. May comfort find these men, their families, friends, and let us strive to be worthy of such sacrifice.
To quote a better man than I:
Just watched a movie Letters from Iwo Jima, renewed appreciation for the saying War is Hell
Welcome home. Rest in peace now.
More…
https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/Year/2023/
Rest In Peace.
Salute.
Never Forget.
Bring Them All Home.
Palermo, Italy, November 11, 1943: “I consider it no sacrifice to die for my country. In my mind we came here to thank God that men like these have lived rather than to regret that they have died.”—George S. Patton Jr.
Welcome Home.
Welcome home elder brothers. Thank you for your sacrifice.
I hope this brings some closure to your loved ones.
Can’t say anything better than what has been posted. Welcome home, brothers.
*Slow Salute*