Four More Return

DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.

From World War II

• Cpl Raymond C. Snapp, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 11 July 2017.

• Cpl Anthony G. Guerriero, Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, was lost on Tarawa on 21 November 1943. He was accounted for on 11 July 2017.

• 2nd Lt. Richard M. Horwitz, 716th Bomber Squadron, 449th Bombardment Group, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost in Italy on 28 February 1945. He was accounted for on 11 July 2017.

From Korea

• SGT William A. Larkins, A Battery, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost in North Korea on 1 December 1950. He was accounted for on 10 July 2017.

From Southeast Asia

• None

Welcome back, 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 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