Another Six Come Home

DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US military personnel.

From World War II

• Cpl. James D. Otto, L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 5 September 2015.

• Pfc. James P. Reilly, L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 5 September 2015.

• 1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman, F Company, 2nd Battalion, 18th Marines Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on 29 November 1943 on Tarawa. He was accounted for on 27 August 2015.

From Korea

• CPL Martin A. King, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, US Army, was lost on 2 November 1950 in North Korea.  He was accounted for on 16 September 2015.

• CPL Robert E. Meyers, A Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 1 December 1950 in North Korea.  He was accounted for on 4 September 2015.

• CPL Grant H. Ewing, 2nd Reconnaissance Company, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 14 February 1951 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 8 September 2015.

You’re no longer missing, my elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that it took so long.

Now you’re home.  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