Two More Return Home
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US military personnel.
From World War II
• PVT John H. Klopp, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 5 December 1943 on Papua New Guinea. He was accounted for on 15 October 2015.
From Korea
• SFC Dean D. Chaney, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 28 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 8 October 2015.
You’re no longer missing, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your recovery 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.
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 refer you to someone who can answer that question – or may be able to answer the question themselves. If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact one of those POCs for further information.
If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and 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
Welcome Home Fallen Warriors, Rest In Peace.
When I see these announcements, the first thing I look at is where and when they died. In my mind’s eye, I think of the hellish conditions in which they perished…one in the heat of tropical jungles, the other on frozen wind-swept hills and valleys. Both must have suffered immensely while fighting and dying in such extreme conditions.
Words are totally inadequate to express gratitude for what they did.
Welcome home PVT Klopp and SFC Chaney. Rest in peace now in your home soil. Gob be with your families.
Welcome Home….
Thank You. for your service….
Rest Well…..
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
Though it took way to long, you’re home now warriors.
RIP.
At long last, welcome home gentlemen.
PVT John H. Klopp of New Orleans, Louisiana was born on 2 October 1917 and enlisted in the Army in 1941, three months before Pearl Harbor. He joined the Fallen in Buna Village, New Guinea, Northern Papua, New Guinea on 5 December 1942. His young wife received the telegram.
Tumbuna Bilas tribesmen found his remains in 2010 near the village of Sanananda, Papua, New Guinea. His remains, along with his watch, helmet, boots and dog tags were recovered in 2012 by JPAC and taken to Hawaii for DNA testing. A family member submitted DNA in 2014 for positive identification and notice of a positive DNA match was earlier this month. John Klopp continued to be loved by a niece of his, Andrea, who has posted remembrances of him for years and calls him “Uncle Buddy.” Her mother, John’s sister, loved him dearly and passed that love on to her daughter. Welcome home, John. You were missed.
Although 21 or 22-year old SFC Dean Chaney is listed as a non-battle death, he was previously seriously wounded in Korea and joined the Fallen on 28 November 1950, while a POW. He was from Seneca, Ohio. Welcome home, sergeant.