Three More Come Home
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
• RM3c Howard V. Keffer, 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 6 March 2018.
• 1st Lt. William W. Shank, 338th Fighter Squadron 55th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Fighter Command, 8th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost in Germany on 13 November 1943. He was accounted for on 6 March 2018.
• Pfc Herman W. Mulligan, Jr., Company L, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division, USMC Reserve, was lost in Japan on 30 May 1945. He was accounted for on 28 February 2018.
From Korea
• None
From Southeast Asia
• None
Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
Rest easy. 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
Found this on Lt. Shank.
“Known as ‘Bill’
ASN – O-740289
13 November 1943 – Killed in Action
MACR No. 01267
Lt. Shank was one of six pilots lost on this bomber escort mission to Bremen, Germany. It was one big dog fight in which the 338th Ftr. Sqdn. was badly mauled by the fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe which resulted in three deaths and three taken prisoner.
Capt. Charles O. Jones reported: “The last time I saw Lt. Shank he was pulling out of a dive following his flight leader’s attack on a FW190. He then continued on a straight course in the direction of the bombers. This happened before reaching the target. I did not identify him again, although I saw a number of single ships.”
Lt. Shank was from Virginia. His name is on the Wall of the Missing, Cambridge American Military Cemetery and Memorial, Cambridge, England.
Reproduced with kind permission of Mr. Robert M. Littlefield from the author’s book Double Nickel – Double Trouble http://www.station131.co.uk/55th/Pilots338th%20PilotsShank%20William%20W%20Lt.htm
PFC Herman Mulligan Jr.
On May 30, 1945, Mulligan was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division, engaged in heavy fighting against Japanese forces on Hill 27, on the northern bank of the Kokuba Estuary, Okinawa, Japan. A large crypt loaded with ammunition exploded, wounding dozens and killing Mulligan.
http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1460076/marine-killed-during-world-war-ii-accounted-for-mulligan-h/
Welcome home, brothers. Rest in peace.
Thanks, UpNorth.
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil now.
These accounts of identified remains allow us to consider men we otherwise would not have known about. Take Lieutenant Shank, for instance. His squadron was flying B-17/B-24 bomber escort, destination Bremen (with targets of opportunity in the Kiel-Flensburg area) when dozens of German fighters intercepted them and all hell broke loose. The weather was especially terrible and many bombers were forced to abort and return to England. The engaged fighters had no such option. 24-year old Virginian William Shank, in his P-38 Lightning, was in his final flight. His Lightning was last seen leveling off after a dive. The fighters did their job. According to the casualty/loss report of that mission, nine a/c were lost and nine pilots MIA. All were fighters. His mortal remains are now found. Known always to God and, now, to us.
Sadness abounds when I read these. PFC Mulligan died during the final few months of the war in the Pacific in the battle for Okinawa, arguably the most intense fighting of the war.
Welcome home, men. I’m humbled by your sacrifice.
Rest in Peace.
And then there’s Mulligan and a book written by Dale Maharidge whose Marine father is pictured on the cover of that book, along with his Dad’s buddy: Herman Mulligan. The title of the book? Bringing Mulligan Home. A brief but intriguing excerpt:” I found six guys who were present when the man died. One Love Company veteran told me I was the first person in sixty-five years whom he’d talked to about the incident—he’d carried Herman Walter Mulligan’s body that day. Despite this, Mulligan’s body was, oddly, listed as not recovered. I fixated on finding his remains.”
http://hereandnow.legacy.wbur.org/2013/06/13/maharidge-father-wwii
Good story that makes the best of an otherwise sad tale. I found a 2014 article that has a bit more of the complete story
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/article9101174.html
Your link has better photos though.
Holden