Another Delayed Return
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US soldier.
From Korea
• PFC Roy A. Henderson, B Company, 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 27 July 1950 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 14 January 2016.
You’re no longer missing, elder brother-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
Rest in peace. You’re home now.
. . .
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.
Author’s Note: the linked DPAA webpage indicates PFC Henderson was lost in “North Korea”. This is incorrect. US ground forces were being pushed south throughout July 1950, and were all well south of Seoul on 27 July 1950. PFC Henderson became MIA (and thus was “lost”) in South Korea. Based on his unit’s known history, he was most likely lost in the general vicinity of Chinju (now Jinju), South Korea.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home Trooper…
Welcome Home, PFC Henderson….
These soldiers cannot repay those that made their homecoming possible. That is what makes this the greatest act of kindness, respect, and honor all those responsible for bringing them home can do.
Welcome Home !!!!!!!!
Rest Well
Salute
Rest in peace in your home soil now. God bless your family.
Rest in Peace Elder Brother. Your long journey has ended.
1-29 IN is part of the Armor School now. I wonder if they are going to do anything as a memorial for him
Welcome home, SIR.
I pray daily at the temple that during my Papozzs life, all Military personnel who have waited so long, will come home.
I’m saddened that many relatives don’t know that a simple donation of blood will identify those already home.
Doesn’t the Military contact the relatives and ask for a DNA sample? If not, who do we contact to get letters to relatives?
Another question.. POWs released from camps obviously don’t know where they were held, but Cong would know. Has anybody talked to them and ask for locations of every camp? We know many died or were killed in captivity, so searching the area is a no brained.
Don’t depend on them to search. Use either veterans or volunteers to search. I would be a great member to dig for bones, I’ve done it before with a bunch of others who would also volunteer…
Any thoughts on this subject?
HONDO, Rereading your post, letters to family and telling them about the website, etc, sounds good, but does the military think its a waste of MONEY?
Reb: I can’t recall the exact year, but since some time in the 1990s the military has kept DNA samples on-file for military personnel. ID of remains for those lost since then has been much easier.
For Vietnam and prior, the issues are time and our mobile society. Over several decades, US residents tend to move around. A lot.
The last SEA losses occurred in 1975 – 40+ years ago – in the Mayaguez incident. Finding NOK for SEA losses is now difficult. For Korea, it’s 62+ years now – and damned difficult if not impossible. World War II is 70+ years now. Same there. And that doesn’t even account for the fact that some military personnel who were lost might not have accurately known their biological parents (adoption or due to other reasons).
In a perfect world, DoD would be able to track down appropriate surviving relatives of those lost and request a DNA sample for possible future use. In reality, that’s not always do-able. And attempting to do that across-the-board would cost a HUGE amount of time and money. We’re talking 87,000+ cases – with over 85,000 of them 62+ years old or older, and virtually all of the others over 40 years old.
The decision – albeit a painful one, I’m sure – apparently was that it’s simply not feasible or affordable to attempt to trace relatives of every individual lost in SEA, Korea, or World War II and request a DNA sample from them. With somewhere over 87,000 missing individuals, I’m forced to agree it’s probably not the best use of available resources.
Welcome Home, Pioneer.
Roy A. Henderson was an infantryman (light weapons) when he was MIA during July 1950. He was a private, an E-2, from Licking county, Ohio. His unit’s first combat, fresh in country on 24 July 1950, was 27 July, the date of his loss. B Company had just assumed their position when hit. The entire battalion suffered tremendous casualties. PVT Henderson is forever 18. Welcome home.