Another Returns
DPAA has announced the identification and accounting for the following formerly-missing US Soldier.
From Korea
• SGT Billy J. Williams, 2nd Reconnaissance Company, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 14 February 1951 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 19 November 2015.
You’re no longer missing, elder brother-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
Welcome home, and 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
You’re home, brother. Rest in Honored Peace.
Welcome home, SGT.
Rest well.
Peace be upon him
The 2nd Infantry incurred more casualties, by far, than any other Army unit in Korea. The date given (14 Feb 1951) matches the date that devastating losses occurred when Williams’ outfit was surrounded by an overwhelming number of enemy who hit them for all sides. One wounded survivor estimated that all but two of the unit were “unwounded.” Pure hell it was, from the official, declassified reports. I am sorry to say that I can report nothing on Williams’ background because of the multiple Billy J Williams of Texas who were born during or about 1930 and who appear in the 1940 US census. Other avenues pursued to learn something about this man were likewise unsuccessful.
Welcome home, soldier. You have been missed.
This sunday my wife and I will be privileged to join other PGR members and escort CPL Charles P. Ivey, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment from a funeral home to a church service so all can pay respects for this recovered hero and MIA from The Korean War.
From Patriot Guard Riders National Site:
Corporal Charles P. Ivey, a member of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment, was reported missing in action November 29, 1950. He was part of a reconnaissance patrol gathering information on enemy locations/composition when his patrol encountered an enemy ambush along a highway near Hajoyang, K.P.R.K. Members of his patrol who were at the ambush that day stated CPL Ivey was mortally wounded by machine gun fire.
In 1993 the North Korean government repatriated human remains that purportedly had been recovered southeast of Pyongyang and corresponds with the location of the 187th ABN in late November 1950. Circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis of the skeletal and dental remains allowed for the identification of Cpl. Charles E. Ivey to the exclusion of other reasonable candidates; identification was established 21 August 2015.
Everyone man and woman who gave all in the service to our nation deserves to be brought home no matter how long it takes. We will not forget
“We will not forget.” Salute, jonp, to you and the PGR.