Three Return Home
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following three formerly-missing US military personnel.
From World War II
• PVT Arthur H. Kelder, Medical Corps, 2nd General Hospital, US Army, was lost on 7 May 1942 in the Philippines. He was accounted for on 26 May 2015.
• 2nd Lt. Robert W. Ward, 387th Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, was lost on 23 December 1944 in Germany. He was accounted for on 7 May 2015.
From Korea
• PFC Charlie Wilcher Jr., Company A, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 30 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 7 May 2015.
You’re no longer missing, my elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that it took so long.
You’re home now. 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 making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.
TAH reader HMCS(FMF) noted in comments elsewhere that DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page. The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to point you in the correct direction if you’re interested. If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact those POCs for further information.
If it turns out you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.
Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.
Category: No Longer Missing
Rest well, men.
Rest in Peace, and welcome home.
Welcome home Warriors, Rest In Peace.
Welcome home gentlemen.
23 December 23 1944. It’s the first day of decent weather for flying in the Bastogne region. Flights of B-26 Martin Marauders are repeatedly attacked by ME-109s around Bastogne. One of the Marauders is about 10 miles out from there on a bridge-bombing mission when it’s raked by the guns of a 109. It stays aloft long enough for most of the crew and one passenger to bail out. Two men, the pilot and co-pilot do not make it out. The others survive and are taken prisoner. The co-pilot was 22-year old Robert W. Ward. No one knows why he and the pilot, 24-year old William O. Pile, didn’t get out. According to the navigator, Lt. Luce, Ward was to follow him out and Luce thought he had. Although one account says the B-26 exploded in air when hit, it did not. Instead, it went into what appeared to be a controlled glide, allowing six crew and the one passenger to get out. My guess is that the pilot and Ward were the reason the others got out, although there was no one remaining who could attest to it, since they were alone, and all hell was breaking loose in the air battle. We all know what was happening on the ground and movies would have us believe that once the skies cleared over Bastogne, everything changed for the better. That would come but come at a great price paid for by men such as 2nd LT Robert W. Ward of Michigan.
Welcome home.
Not to try and hijack the thread, but….
Remains of Brevard soldier arrive in Melbourne
Hundreds lined the streets near Melbourne International Airport, joining police, ex-military personnel and motorcyclists as they paid tribute to Sgt. 1st Class Pablo A. Ruiz who died in Afghanistan in May.
The remains of Ruiz, 37, are being escorted to the Fountainhead Memorial Park in Palm Bay.
A memorial service will be held tomorrow at Florida Tech and a celebration of life is slated for Saturday near Patrick Air Force Base.
More at http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2015/06/03/army-soldier-died-afghanistan-return-home/28419701/
Welcome home elder brothers. Rest in peace now in your home soil. The American soil you loved and gave your all for.
Welcome home
Rest well
Thank you for your service
PVT Arthur H. Kelder. The story of Arthur “Bud” Kelder is particularly poignant because letters between him and his family have been published online and reveal that Bud’s family was writing to him and desperately wanting a letter from him. Unknown to them, Bud was no longer alive. Bud was a dental assistant of some sort and was in Manila when the Philippines fell. He was a POW at Cabanatuan until he died on or about 19 November 1942. The POWs kept their own accounts of who died when and where the Fallen were buried by them. Bud was in a group grave (designated Grave 717) with 13 other men. His parents learned of his POW status in a War Dept telegram dated 15 April 1943 and learned of his death some time later. Thereafter, his Dad tried and tried for years—continuing after the war– to learn where his son was buried and hoped deeply to bring Bud’s remains home. The search torch was picked-up by others, no doubt by family that Bud never got to meet. Bud was from Illinois and 25-years old when he died.
Welcome home, Bud.
(I came upon the link referenced above during a google search. Although I read through the documents, I felt like I was prying, so I won’t link it but, if you want, you’ll find it easily by googling his name.)
PFC Charlie Wilcher was born in Sandersville, Georgia on October 4, 1929 to the late Charlie Wilcher, Sr. and Allener Perry Wilcher. His brothers, J.W and Albert served, respectively, in the Army and Air Force. Charlie also had two sisters, one of whom provided the DNA sample that allowed her brother to be identified. According to the story about him that appeared very recently in the Florida Times-Union, “Wilcher had graduated with honors and was salutatorian at his high school, a blacks-only school in segregated Sandersville. He was active in school and a Sunday school superintendent at his church.” A service was held for him this past Monday, 1 June, followed by interment at Jacksonville National Cemetery.
Welcome home, Charlie.
Welcome home to where you may finally rest in peace gentlemen. It is your action and fate which helped motivate all of us to make an effort to emulate you. Each of us left this country knowing it might be a one way ticket, just as yours was. Returning from hell with the emotional and physical scars continually reminds us of those of you who made the ultimate sacrifice. Some who read of your return weep in private silence and solitude. All who read it are touched in ways we are too proud to let it show other than to brothers who were so much more fortunate. Even before we left, God had already chosen those who were to return late. All we could do was pray HE had chosen others. The pain never eases for the fortunate who wonder, “Why me Lord?”