Four More Accounted For

| April 5, 2023

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War

Sgt. Lawrence J. Robidoux

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Sgt. Lawrence J. Robidoux 22, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023.

In late 1950, Robidoux was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 27, 1950, after his unit’s withdrawal from Ipsok in North Korea. In 1953, several POWs returned during Operation Big Switch reported Robidoux had been a prisoner of war and died in May 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #5.

In the late summer and fall of 1954, during Operation Glory, North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, also known as Prisoner of War Camp #5, to the United Nations Command. However, the Central Identification Unit in Kokura, Japan, did not associate any repatriated remains with Robidoux, he was determined non-recoverable in January 1956.

In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In December 2019, the DPAA disinterred Unknown X-14646, a set of remains returned during Operation Glory, as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

To identify Robidoux’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Robidoux’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Robidoux will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date yet to be determined.

 

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War

Cpl. Delbert L. White

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Cpl. Delbert L. White, 20, of Ottumwa, Iowa, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted for Sept. 27, 2022.

In late 1950, White was a member of D Company, 2nd Engineer (Combat) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On Dec. 1, White and many other 2nd ID Soldiers were captured by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces as they attempted to block the CPVF and allow the rest of 2nd ID to escape south. In August 1953, the CPVF sent a list to United Nations Command stating White died in March 1951 as a prisoner of war at POW Camp #1. However, in September 1953, two returning American POWs said he died in February 1951 at POW Camp #5. Despite conflicting reports, the Army determined March 18, 1951 was the latest White could have been alive and declared that his date of death.

During Operation GLORY in the fall of 1954, 550 sets of remains from reported to be from Prisoner of War Camp #5 were returned to United Nations Command. White was among the 38 who could not be identified. Those unidentified remains were buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu in 1956.

In October 2019, during Phase 2 of DPAA’s Korean War Disinterment Project, X-14794 Operation GLORY was disinterred from the Punchbowl as part of the planned exhumation of Operation GLORY burials originating from Camp #5, and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

To identify White’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

White’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

White will be buried in Ottumwa, Iowa on date yet to be determined.

 

Airman Accounted For From World War II

2nd Lt. Francis V. Montemurro

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Francis V. Montemurro, 25, of New York City, New York, killed during World War II, was accounted for Aug. 26, 2022.

In the summer of 1943, Montemurro was assigned to the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber on which Montemurro was serving as the navigator 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 Montemurro’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.

Montemurro’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the North Africa American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Tunis, Tunisia, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Montemurro will be buried in San Diego, California on June 2, 2023.

 

Airman Accounted For From World War II

Tech. Sgt. John Holoka Jr.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. John Holoka Jr., 25, of Cresson, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023.

In the summer of 1944, Holoka was assigned to the 844th Bombardment Squadron, 489th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force. On June 22, Holoka was an engineer on a B-24H Liberator that was struck by anti-aircraft after a bombing raid on a German airfield in Saint-Cyr-l’École, near Versailles, France.

Despite the damage to the B-24 Liberator, the pilot was able to nurse the aircraft until it was over the English coast, whereupon he ordered his crew to bail out. Seven of the airmen parachuted successfully while the other three crew members, including Holoka, were still on board. Two of the crew witnessed the aircraft crashed into a farm in West Sussex, England.

Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In November 1947, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site, but they did not discover the remains of any other crewmembers. Holoka was declared non-recoverable May 10, 1950.

A local aviation archaeology group attempted to excavate the crash site in 1974, to search for aircraft parts. A number of U.S. Department of Defense investigation and recovery efforts took place in 2017 and 2019, with a June 2021 recovery mission finding possible human remains and material evidence.

To identify Holoka’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used dental, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome (Y-STR) analysis.

Holoka’s name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Cambridge, United Kingdom, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Holoka will be buried in Portage, Pennsylvania on May 1, 2023.

Category: No Longer Missing

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Old tanker

Welcome home. Rest in Peace.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Welcome home, brothers-in-arms.
(SLOW SALUTE)
Especially you two mentioned at the top, who served with the 25th ID (25th Dimension) and the 2nd ID (Second Dee, Second to None).
Let’s just say that I was either in and/or supported both units.

AW1Ed

Welcome home, and thanks Dave.

Roh-Dog

Lord, please comfort these men, their friends and families. Please guide the hands and hearts of DPAA, provide them strength to compete the work before them.

Welcome Home, Gentlemen.

Sparks

Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace now.

Prior Service

If I knew nothing about the Korean War but what I read here in terms of MIAs, I would quickly realize November and December, 1950, must have been very much like hell on earth. Pretty sure that essentially every set of recovered remains went missing in that two month window. Welcome home, Americans.

RGR 4-78

Welcome Home.

KoB

Welcome Home, Warriors. We Salute your Service and will Pay Honors to your Sacrifice. Every Warrior deserves, at the very least, a Marked Resting Place

Until they are ALL accounted for…

Thanks, Dave. These posts are very special to us.