Another Two Return
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
• S1c Monroe Temple, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. He was accounted for on 22 March 2017.
From Korea
• CPL William R. Sadewasser, Headquarters Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost in North Korea on 28 November 1950. He was accounted for on 23 March 2017.
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.
Author’s Note: Per DPAA, S1c Temple was accounted for on 22 March 2017; CPL Sadewasser was accounted for on 23 March 2017. However, their accounting was not announced on DPAA’s web site until this week.
Category: No Longer Missing
Being a student of History, I realized that USS Oklahoma had the second most number killed after USS Arizona.
What I didn’t realize was that so many of those killed were unidentified remains recovered.
Apparently less than 10 percent of the 429 killed were identified. And of the remaining 90 percent most has recovered remains.
I follow these DPAA posts and had noted the sheer number of Tarawa and USS Oklahoma casualties and was aware of the back story on Tarawa but the sheer number of USS Oklahoma unknowns was something I didn’t realize.
Welcom home elder brothers.
Welcome Home, Brothers. I am humbled by your sacrifice. Blessings …
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
The Sadewasser family, as of the 1940 census, lived at 102 East Genesee Street in Wellsville, New York. The Genesee River runs through the small town, a picturesque place about 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania line. William was 12* when that census was taken and one can easily imagine him fishing and playing ball in the town and its surrounds. He lived there with his parents, Lemen and Carmen, his older brother (by two years), and their little sister, Jennie, then 10. Their dad worked for an oil refinery and Mom did what Moms did back then: kept a home and raised the children. William fell at the notorious Chosin Reservoir, during the massive and well documented offensive by CCF troops in late November 1950. Never forgotten. Now found.
*William’s birth date is reported by the Korean War Project as being May 26, 1926, which, if accurate, would have made him 13 or 14 at the 1940 census.
Rest in peace, men.
It can be greatly rewarding and sometimes terribly frustrating to try to learn something about these men. Unfortunately, in the case of Monroe Temple, it is the latter which characterizes the search. Neither the 1930 nor 1940 census is helpful. It appears, thanks to one source, that Temple Monroe may have lived in Iowa. His parents did, at least for a time. According to one website, he was the son of Mr and Mrs James Monroe Temple who lived at 1628 S. E. 34th St., Des Moines.
http://iagenweb.org/polk/military/WWII/ww2_cas_navy_marines.html
My father is Monroe Temple’s brother and has been contacted.
I incorrectly referred to Monroe Temple as Temple Monroe in the post immediately above. I am sorry for that error.
Robert Monroe Temple is the full name given to him at birth. He chose to sign as Monroe Temple on his enlistment oath. This fact has created a lot of confusion as to census recognition. His father is James Monroe Temple and his mother is Elizabeth Jane Temple née Hoke. Hope this clarifies the confusion. From someone who knows the family tree.