Seven More Come Home
DPMO has announced the identification of three US MIAs from World War II, three US MIAs from the Korean War, and one US MIA from Southeast Asia.
- 2nd Lt. Jimmie D. Collins III, 446th Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force, US Army Air Forces, was lost on 21 June 1944, in the Netherlands. He was accounted for 15 October 2014.
- SSgt. Maurice J. Fevold and SSgt. Ward C. Swalwell Jr., 599th Bombardment Squadron, 397th Bombardment Group, US Army Air Forces, were lost 23 December, 1944, in Germany. They were accounted for 17 September 2014 and 3 October 2014, respectively.
- CPL Lonald D. Skeens, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost 4 September 1950 in South Korea. He was accounted for 11 October 2014.
- SGT Cameron M. Flack and SGT Arnold Pitman, L Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, US Army, were both lost 12 December 1950 in North Korea. They were accounted for 8 October 2014 and 7 October 2014, respectively.
- SSG James L. Van Bendegom, B Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost 12 July 1967 in South Vietnam. He was accounted for 17 October 2014.
All of these belatedly returned brothers-in-arms will be buried with full military honors. Information concerning the dates and locations of their interments is not readily available.
SSgt. Fevold and SSgt. Swalwell appear to have been crewmembers on the same aircraft as 1st Lt. William Cook and Sgt. Eric M. Honeyman, who were identified by DPMO some weeks ago and whose repatriation and identification was previously discussed here. 1st Lt. Cook will be buried today in Oakland, CA.
Welcome home, my elder brothers-in-arms. Rest in peace.
. . .
Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in providing a positive ID for those recovered remains.
Unfortunately, JPAC has recently reorganized their web site; they no longer seems to provide by-name lists of the MIAs for whom there is a need for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) samples to assist in possible identification of remains. So if you have a relative that is still MIA from World War II, Korea, or SEA – please consider reading this JPAC fact sheet to see if you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample.
If you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample and have a relative from World War II, Korea, or SEA who is still MIA, please contact JPAC (there is an 866 number on the flier linked above) and see if they already have a mtDNA sample for your missing relative. If not, please arrange to submit a sample. By submitting a mtDNA sample, you may be able to help identify US remains that have been recovered and repatriated but not yet positively identified.
Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home, boys.
Rest well.
Oh gosh! Welcome back home brave soldiers! You gave everything you could and the result was that we were all safer. God bless you and your families. Rest in peace!
Welcome home, brothers. Rest now, finally, in peace.
James Van Bendegom of Kenosha, Wisconsin was a SP4 on 12 July 1967 when his unit was ambushed in the la Drang valley and nearly wiped out. He was wounded, taken captive and reportedly died of his wounds about two weeks later. Forever 18, he was promoted subsequent to his capture. Welcome home, Jim.
SSgt. Maurice J. Fevold and SSgt. Ward C. Swalwell Jr. were aboard the same Martin Marauder among a flight of 33 B-26s whose mission it was to hit a Belgian railroad bridge during the Battle of the Bulge. Their aircraft, the Hunconscious, was hit by flak and went down. Eight other planes went down on that mission, with all crews but the Hunconscious accounted for. Decades later, an impact crater was painstakingly searched, as was its surrounding area. This led to the identification of the aircraft and, subsequently, the missing airmen.
Maurice J. Fevold was born in Iowa 21 February 1923 and attended Eagle Grove Schools. Afterwards, he moved to Illinois where he enlisted. He was 21 when he and his fellow crewmen were shot down over Belgium. SSgt. Ward C. Swalwell Jr. of Illinois was one of those fellow crewmen. His sister visited the crash site two or three years ago. If you would like to read more about the finding of the Hunconscious and her crew, here’s one place: http://www.miaproject.net/mia-search-recoveries/hunconscious/
Hondo,
Thanks for the post. May they rest in peace.
Sam Naomi
(Korean Veteran) 1950 -!952
Under sad circumstances, it is a good day when these men return home!
Sometime long after the Vietnam was was over, I read an article in Parade magazine, where a Vietnamese expressed wonder that “You come back for the bones of your dead.”
Yes, we do.
And as soon as we had the capability, we put up a wall, and named every single one of our dead, and said what happened to each of them.
As a free people, we cannot always control the decisions of our leaders, but we can force them to account for the lives of our servicemen and women.
When I worked in Washington, I took my little son to the Vietnam memorial. We walked through it, and I explained what it was about. I took him over to one of the books, and some man came up and took over the explanation of the book, did a good job, and then thanked me for bringing my son, “because it is important.” Somebody who served over there thanked me.
Welcome home from a proud and grateful nation that never forgets.