More Belatedly Return (Updated)

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

From World War II

• LT Julian B. Jordan, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor, HI.  He was accounted for on 27 April 2016.

• ENS Lewis B. Pride, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor, HI. He was accounted for on     28 April 2016     4 November 2015 (see note).

• FM2 James B. Boring, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor, HI.  He was accounted for on 5 May 2016.

• FM3 Edwin C. Hopkins, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor, HI. He was accounted for on 4 May 2016.

• Seaman 2nd Class Rudolph V. Piskuran, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor, HI. He was accounted for on 20 April 2016.

From Korea

• SFC James P. Shunney, I Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, US Army, was lost on 2 November 1950 at Pearl Harbor, HI. He was accounted for on 3 May 2016.

Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Rest in peace now.

You’re home.

. . .

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: update due to DPAA adding additional personnel as accounted-for to their website immediately after the article was published. Additionally, DPAA apparently double-listed ENS Pride with two different dates on which he was determined “accounted-for”. The date above now reflects their corrected list, which now shows him accounted-for once – on 4 November 2015.)

Category: No Longer Missing