Seventeen More Are Home
While I’ve been decisively engaged (and on the road) the past few weeks, DPAA has started 2017 with the proverbial bang. Since my last article, DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
• Mr. John D. Armstrong, civilian volunteer with Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, American Volunteer Group, “Flying Tigers”, was lost on 8 September 1941 in Burma. He was accounted for on 4 January 2017.
• Mr. Maxx C. Hammer, Jr., civilian volunteer with Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, American Volunteer Group, “Flying Tigers”, was lost on 22 September 1941 in Burma. He was accounted for on 4 January 2017.
• Mr. Peter W. Atkinson, civilian volunteer with Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, American Volunteer Group, “Flying Tigers”, was lost on 25 October 1941 in Burma. He was accounted for on 4 January 2017.
• Mess Attendant 1st Class Ralph M. Boudreaux, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 3 January 2017.
• F3c Glaydon I.C. Iverson, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 22 December 2016.
• Coxswain Verne F. Knipp, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 22 December 2016.
• 2nd Lt Ernest Matthews, Headquarters Company, Headquarters Battalion, Division Special Troops, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 4 January 2017.
• GySgt Sidney A. Cook, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 4 January 2017.
• Cpl Walter G. Critchley, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 4 January 2017.p>
• Pfc Larry Roberts, Special Weapons Group, 2nd Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, USMC, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 4 January 2017.
• Pfc James O. Whitehurst, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 4 January 2017.
• Pvt Gene J. Appleby, Company A, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, US Army, was lost in the Netherlands on 17 September 1944. He was accounted for on 28 December 2016.
• 2nd Lt. Charles E. Carlson, 62nd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost in Germany on 23 December 1944. He was accounted for on 9 January 2017.
• 1st Lt. William J. Gray, 391st Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost in Germany on 16 April 1945. He was accounted for on 5 January 2017.
From Korea
• SGT James W. Sharp, B Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 6 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 10 January 2017.
• SGT Edward Saunders, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division US Army, was lost on 12 February 1951 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 20 December 2016.
From Southeast Asia
• 1st Lt William C. Ryan, Marine Fighter Attack Force 115, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force Pacific, USMC, was lost on 11 May 1969 in Laos. He was accounted for on 3 January 2017.
Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your return 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 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, and rest easy.
Welcome home, Brothers.
Welcome home, guys, especially the Flying Tigers.
SGT Sharp is yet another member of the much maligned, but ultimately vindicated “Task Force Faith”. For a long time they were the forgotten heroes of Chosin, but no more.
RIP.
There is a Memorial Park in Martinsburg WV that honors and remembers those who made the supreme sacrifice in service to our country. Despite the fact that the Flying Tigers were not an element of the US Army’s Air Forces, the name of Peter W. Atkinson can–quite rightly–be found at that park. Below him on the list of the Fallen is another Atkinson, Peter’s brother Robert, who was a 1st LT in the Army Air Corps in WW II. Another Atkinson brother went Navy during WW II. Like his brothers, he took to the air. He was Captain Alphonsus J. Atkinson. Their sister, Theresa, was an Army lieutenant who served as a nurse in WWII. A younger brother, Anthony, was an Army corporal who served in Korea. The Atkinsons of Martinsburg, West Virginia: an amazing family whose service and sacrifice is truly humbling and inspiring.
UPDATE.
“The former World War II “Flying Tigers” pilot will be coming home to Martinsburg on April 8 at 10:30 a.m. when his remains will be formally re-interred at Rosedale Cemetery, the final leg of a long journey from Kyedaw Airfield in Toungoo, Burma –now Miramar — back to his home town.”
Martinsburg, WV Journal.
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil now. God be with your families.
Welcome home, brothers. Rest in peace, finally.
So many finally home, so many yet remain. Welcome home and Rest in Peace. We have not forgotten what you did for us.
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Dang, it’s dusty in here right now.
Just too awesome that you share this information with us. I hope to see Jimmy Ray comes home in a future update.
R.I.P.
DPAA does such important work. Thank you for your tireless efforts to bring home our American heroes.