Four More Accounted For

| April 12, 2023

Defense MIA/POW Accounting Agency

Airman Accounted For From World War II

Staff Sgt. Edgar L. Mills

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Edgar L. Mills, 25, of Tampa, Florida, killed during World War II, was accounted for Feb. 13, 2023.

In the summer of 1944, Mills was assigned to the 816th Bomber Squadron (Heavy), 483rd Bomber Group (Heavy), 15th Air Force. On July 18, Mills an armorer gunner, onboard a B-17G was killed in action when the bomber was shot down during a bombing raid on enemy aircraft and air defense installations around Memmingen, Germany. His body was not recovered, and the Germans never reported him as a prisoner of war. The War Department issued a finding of death on July 26, 1951.

Due to the damage to the B-17G the pilot ordered the crew to bail out. Six of the airmen parachuted successfully while the other five crew members including Mills were believed to still be on board. The surviving crew witnessed the aircraft explode in an area south of Memmingen, Germany.

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 1946, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site, they discovered two sets of remains however none were associated with Mills. He was declared non-recoverable July 26, 1951.

In 2012 three German witnesses led what is now known as DPAA to an aircraft crash site near Kimratshofen, Germany. Which resulted in subsequent investigation and recovery efforts in 2013, with a 2018 recovery mission finding possible human remains and material evidence.

In 2019, a DPAA partner team from the University of New Orleans continued work at the Kimratshofen site, recovering additional material, which was also transferred to the DPAA laboratory in Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

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

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

Mills’ will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on a date yet to be determined.

 

Airman Accounted For From WWII

Pvt. John W. Ropp

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. John W. Ropp, 31, of Sierra Madre, California who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for Oct. 25, 2022.

In late 1941, Ropp was a member of the 2nd Observation Squadron in the Philippines, 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. Ropp 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, Ropp died July 28, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 215.

Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Five of the sets of remains from Common Grave 215 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.

In June 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 215 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

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

Ropp’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, an American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) site, along with others missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Ropp will be buried in Camarillo, California on a date yet to be determined.

 

Soldier Accounted For From World War II

Army Pvt. Leroy M. Slenker

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. Leroy M. Slenker, 28, of El Segundo, California, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for Feb. 3, 2023.

In late 1941, Slenker was a member of the 75th Ordnance Depot Company, 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. Slenker 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, Slenker died Nov. 15, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 721.

Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Six sets of remains from Common Grave 721 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.

In June 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 721 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

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

Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Slenker’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).

Slenker will be buried in Dixon, California on a date yet to be determined.

 

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War

Cpl. Carmen Carrillo

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Cpl. Carmen Carrillo, 20, of Lompoc, California, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Feb. 3, 2023.

In spring 1951, Carrillo was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on May 17 after fighting against the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces in Gangwon Hongchun, Republic of Korea (R.O.K). There is no indication his remains were recovered after the battle and he was never recorded as a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953, and his remains were determined to be nonrecoverable in January 1956.

In 2013 the Ministry of National Defense Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification recovered multiple sets of remains near Gangwon Hongchun, R.O.K., which is consistent with the area associated with Carrillo. Six sets of remains were transferred to the United States, believed to belong to U.S. Service Members.

The remains were disinterred on Sept. 22, 2021, and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii for analysis.

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

Carrillo’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.

Carrillo will be buried in his hometown on a date yet to be determined.

Category: No Longer Missing

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KoB

Welcome Home, Warriors. We Salute your Service and will Pay Honors to your Sacrifice. Everyone deserves a Marked Resting Place…it is the least that we can do.

Thanks, Dave. It is good to see a return of this Thread Title.

“…til they’re all accounted for…”

Veritas Omnia Vincit

The advent of the DNA era has provided closure for so many of these formerly missing cases.

Difficult work to be certain, but some families are now finding some closure or some measure of peace instead of forever wondering where their loved has lain all this time.

Thanks for reminding us all how many are being found and how many remain to be discovered.

A somber reminder that those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our nation have sometimes done so and been left unknown, unfound, and unseen since the moment they made that sacrifice.

May they now rest in a well deserved peace.

David

A good reason to put your own DNA on file if there is a MIA etc. in your family.

ninja

Rest In Peace, Warriors.

Salute.

Never Forget.

Bring Them All Home.

Old tanker

Welcome home, lost and nameless no more. Rest well.

Sparks

Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace now.

RGR 4-78

Welcome Home.

A Proud Infidel®™

*Slow Salute*