Three More Accounted For

Defense MIA/POW Accounting Agency

 

Medal of Honor Soldier Accounted For From Korea

Army Cpl. Luther H. Story

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Cpl. Luther H. Story, 19, of Americus, Georgia, killed during the Korean War, and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, was accounted for April 6, 2023.

In late 1950, Story was a member of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On Sept. 1, 1950, Story was reported killed in action after his unit was engaged by the Korean People’s Army near Naktong River, South Korea. 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 Sept. 1, 1953, and his remains were determined to be nonrecoverable in January 1956.

In October 1950, 11 sets of remains were recovered near Sangde-po, South Korea, eight were identified. One set remains designated X-260 Tanggok thought to be Story, but investigators at the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan didn’t have enough identifying data to positively ID the remains. X-260 was later transported with all of the unidentified Korean War remains and buried as an Unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In June 2021, the DPAA disinterred X-260 as part of Phase Three 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 Story’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Story’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.

Story will be buried in Andersonville, Georgia, on May 29, 2023.

 

Pilot Accounted For From World War II

Army Air Forces 1st Lt. John B. Thomas

On September 30, 2022, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of First Lieutenant John B. Thomas, missing from World War II.

First Lieutenant Thomas entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from New York and served in the 343rd Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group. On August 1, 1943, Operation TIDAL WAVE, a bombing raid against the oil refineries around Ploie?ti, Romania, was launched. One hundred and seventy-seven B-24 Liberators took off from air bases in Libya for the raid. 1LT Thomas was the pilot of a Liberator (serial number 42-40312, nicknamed “Aire Lobo”) that was one of fifty-one planes that failed to return. His remains were not identified following the war. Operation TIDAL WAVE, while successfully damaging the Ploie?ti oil refineries, cost the lives of hundreds of USAAF airmen, many of whom were interred by Romanian citizens into the Bolovan Cemetery in Ploie?ti. During postwar operations there, the American Graves Registration Command exhumed unknown remains that were eventually reinterred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery. In 2017, DPAA began exhuming those unknowns for comparison with the unaccounted-for airmen lost during Operation TIDAL WAVE. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established an association between one set of these unknown remains and 1LT Thomas.

First Lieutenant Thomas is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy.

 

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War

Army Sgt. Richard E. Crotty

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Sgt. Richard E. Crotty, 22, of Geneva, Illinois, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Feb. 3, 2023.

In late 1950, Crotty was a member of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On 1 September 1950, Crotty’s was reported missing in action after his unit was engaged by the Korean People’s Army near Yongsan, South Korea. 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.

A set of remains was recovered near Yongsan, in July 1951. The remains were thought to be Crotty and were designated X-1667 Tanggok and buried in the United Nations Cemetery Tanggok later that month. In March 1955, the Central Identification Unit Kokura in Japan began a reexamination of X-1667. They made several attempts between then and April 1955 before ultimately declaring the remains unidentifiable. X-1667 was later transported with all of the unidentified Korean War remains and buried as an Unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In April 2017, Crotty’s next of kin contacted the Army and requested the disinterment of X-1667 Tanggok as a potential association with Crotty. The remains were disinterred on Sept. 8, 2018, and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii for analysis.

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

Crotty’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.

Crotty will be buried in Peoria, Illinois, on April 29, 2023.

 

Category: No Longer Missing