Two More Return
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
• Ml1c Kenneth B. Armstrong, 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 8 February 2018.
From Korea
• PFC David Baker, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost in North Korea on 28 November 1950. He was accounted for on 8 February 2018.
From Southeast Asia
• None
Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
You’re home now. Rest easy.
. . .
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.
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
Pfc. David Baker recovered 8 Feb. 2018, I am surprised that recovery operations are underway with the high tension between the U S and the Norks. Glad to have you home at last.
MI1c Kenneth Armstrong, welcome home sailer, Rest in peace.
That date doesn’t equate to the date the remains were recovered, Steve1371. That’s the date the individual was formally accounted for by DoD – e.g., remains definitively identified and the “books closed” on his/her MIA case.
If I recall correctly, North Korea returned quite a number of sets of remains to the US in the early/mid 1990s. However, forensic tech has advanced substantially since then; identifications are sometimes possible today that weren’t 20 years ago. And with DNA ID, a sample from a relative of the correct bloodline is required. Those aren’t always available.
I’d guess PFC Edwards’ remains may have been among those returned during the Clintoon administration, but were also among those that weren’t identified at the time. I could be wrong.
Copy all that Hondo. Thanks for the comeback. There is a lot going on many of us are not familiar with. Thanks for a look behind that curtain.
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil now.
Thanks for posting, Hondo.