Another Two Are Home
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
2nd Lt. Robert R. Keown, US Army, assigned to 36th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group, US Army Air Forces, was lost in Papua New Guinea on 16 April 1944. He was accounted for on 28 November 2017; Jonn noted his burial last week in this article. Regrettably, I missed the original announcement of his accounting.
SGT James K. Park, US Army, assigned to I Company, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, was lost in Germany on 23 November 1944. He was accounted for on 21 June 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
Welcome home.
Hope to see some Korea soon.
Looks like it could be any week now, Limabeans. There has been MUCH movement toward peace in a short period of time.
Welcome back, gentlemen.
In a place called Blooming Grove in Navarro county, Texas, there is a cemetery called Dresden. There the remains of pioneers and Civil War Veterans rest, some in graves whose markers are long gone. In one instance, there is a marker but no remains. The marker reads:
“In Memory of James Kenneth Park
Texas
Co I 26th INF.
World War II P.H.
Jan. 22, 1924 Nov. 23, 1944”
Welcome home, Jim.
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil.
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
Welcome Home.
Rest in Peace, Brothers. May your relatives now find peace in your return.
Rest in peace, brothers. Sorry it took so long to bring you home.