Four Soldiers Return from Korea
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US military personnel.
From Korea
• CPL Donald E. Matney, H Company, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 20 July 1950 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 19 October 2016.
• MAJ Jack D. Griffiths, Headquarters, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 30 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 25 October 2016.
• PFC Lavern C. Ullmer, B Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 30 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 25 October 2016.
• SGT James E. Martin, I Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 3 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 18 October 2016.
Welcome back, elder brothers-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 DNA from recovered remains against DNA from some (but not all) blood relatives can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.
On their web site’s “Contact Us” page, DPAA now has FAQs. The answer to one of those FAQs describes who can and cannot submit DNA samples useful in identifying recovered remains. The chart giving the answer can be viewed here. The text associated with the chart is short and can be viewed in DPAA’s FAQs.
If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a DNA 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, Brothers. You were gone but not forgotten.
It’s good to have you back brothers. As you can see below your efforts were not in vain. I thank you all and my Korean family thanks you more than you all know . Rest easy warriors.
Welcome home brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil. God be with your families.
Lavern Ullmer missed WWII. He was 13 or so when Pearl Harbor was attacked. His war was the Forgotten War, from which he is now returned. According to the 1940 census, he lived at 716 S. Main Street in Montgomery, Ohio, with his parents, John and Helen and two sisters, China and Leila. One can imagine the ribbing he took with a first name of Lavern, just as one can only imagine the heartbreak his loss was for his family. Welcome back to home soil, Lavern.
18-year old Donald Matney was from Webster county, Missouri. His farming family was headed by Mom, Willia, and included five children as of 1940. Another Matney, Marion, from Webster county, MO, was killed in WW II. I cannot determine the relation, if any between the two Webster county men, both soldiers, who shared the same fate. Welcome home, Donald.
In 1940, eight-year old James Edward Martin was living with his parents, two sisters and a brother in Vernon parish, Anacoco, Louisiana, a village with a solitary re-light signal in it and a population of several hundred. A decade later, he was in the Army and soon off to Korea. He was never forgotten by his cousin, Leamon, who said about him, “He was a tough guy. He didn’t see no danger. He talked to my daddy and said times were getting rough over there, and then I didn’t hear from him no more.”
According to an article in the Bastrop Daily Enterprise, Sgt Martin “will be escorted through the state on U.S. 171 from Lake Charles to First Baptist Church of Anacoco, where a memorial service will be held Nov. 19. “ The article also points out that “Towns along the route plan to lower flags to half-staff as Martin’s escort passes.” Not forgotten. Never forgotten. Welcome home, Jim.
Thank you for these pieces. It is good to have a look into the lives of these men, so that we might know about the communities that helped form them and the families that loved them and grieved for them.
Welcome home, brothers. Rest in peace.
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
2/17 Air Cav: Many thanks as always for your legwork done to give us the back story of these warriors.
I do what I do for the same reason Hondo and Jonn post these and you and others read them: out of respect and love. Sometimes, when I see the names, I want to go out and scream, “These men mattered! These are names you should know and the lives, all too brief, you should care about, not nitwits on TV and the silver screen!” You know what I mean. UpNorth,68W58, Green Thumb, Sparks and others know what I mean. And that’s what matters.
I know what you mean as well. Thanks.
I’m sorry. I thought I was replying to you, HMC Ret, so of course I know that you feel the same way.
I know. No problem. No issue here with me. You know, I feel an obligation to these men each time I read of their coming home, as well as a relationship with them. It’s a relationship that crosses the years, branch of service and all other considerations. Can’t explain it properly. I believe we share that in common. It’s a brotherhood, so to speak. I think of the many years they were on foreign soil, waiting to be returned to the homeland. To me, it’s both uplifting and sad. Props …
as long as there is any memory of their lives they are not truly dead. Y’all may not believe in eternal life, but in one small way, you are helping them achieve it by keeping their lives from being forgotten.