Nine More Return

| September 23, 2018

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

From World War II

EM3c Merle A. Smith, 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 20 September 2018.

S1c Millard Burk, 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 20 September 2018.

S1c Robert W. Headington, 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 14 September 2018.

S2c David B. Edmonston, 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 20 September 2018.

SSgt. Karl R. Loesche, US Army, assigned to 3rd Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, US Army Air Forces, was lost in the Philippines on 16 November 1942. He was accounted for on 13 September 2018.

From Korea

PVT Charles G. Kaniatobe, US Army, assigned to A Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, was lost in South Korea on 10 July 1950. He was accounted for on 17 September 2018.

MSG Charles H. McDaniel, US Army, assigned to Medical Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, was lost in North Korea on 2 November 1950. He was accounted for on 13 September 2018.

PFC William H. Jones, US Army, assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, was lost in North Korea on 26 November 1950. He was accounted for on 13 September 2018.

CPL Edward M. Jones, US Army Reserve, assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, was lost in North Korea on 12 February 1951. He was accounted for on 19 September 2018.

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 72,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,600 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; over 1,500 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA); 126 remain unaccounted for from the Cold War; 5 remain unaccounted for from the Gulf Wars; and 1 individual remains unaccounted for from Operation Eldorado Canyon. 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

16 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
26Limabeans

Welcome home brothers.
Been a long journey.
You can rest in peace now.

0
A Proud Infidel®™

Welcome home Fallen Warriors, Rest In Peace. You’ve earned your places in History and Valhalla.

0
2/17 Air Cav

Oklahoman Charles Gibson Kaniatobe was a Choctaw who, at the time of the 1940 census, was 11-years old, with an older sister (aged 13) and three younger siblings. Charles was in Korea mere days before he was lost, a participant in the Task Force Smith debacle. Welcome home, young warrior.

0
26Limabeans

“Charles was in Korea mere days before he was lost”

These losses are especially tough to deal with. Having lost a friend that lasted two weeks raised a whole lot of battles with the unfairness of life. You think you get it and then you don’t.

Thanks for the research.

0
HMC Ret

Limabeans: I am particularly moved by those who are KIA so very near the end of a war. We recently had a warrior who was KIA a few days before that whack job Hitler did the world a solid and blew off his fucking head. Somehow, that just seems unjust, then I ask myself would it have been more just if he had been KIA in 1942 or any other year of the war. Yeah, I don’t ‘get it’ either.

0
USMC steve

Perhaps the only solace to be found in it is that he didn’t have to suffer too much before getting killed. I have heard it said that if one must get whacked, it is better to get it early rather than later, so you don’t have to hump all those hills, see all those friends hit, etc.

0
2/17 Air Cav

MSG McDaniel was previously mentioned here at TAH. It was his dog tag that was found among the remains transferred from North Korea earlier this year. He was 32, a medic, a WW II Veteran, and the father of two sons, both of whom were toddlers in 1950. One of them later became an Army chaplain. Welcome home, MSG McDaniel.

0
2/17 Air Cav

Army Pfc. William H. Jones, 19, of Nash County, N.C., was lost in a battle against Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces near Pakchon, North Korea on 26 November 1950. Forever 19. Welcome home, son.

0
2/17 Air Cav

A reading of reports regarding the battle in which CPL Edward M. Jones was lost makes one shudder. With ROK soldiers in full retreat, the soldiers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 38th Infantry Regiment were hit hard and relentlessly in coordinated attack. Multiple instances of Chinese troops pretending to be ROKs were recorded, with Chinese literally a couple of yards away when discovered to be enemy. Hell. Pure hell.

0
Skyjumper

What I found interesting was that two of the identified soldiers (Master Sgt. Charles H. McDaniel and Pfc. William H. Jones) were from the remains from 55 boxes of Korean War remains repatriated from North Korea this summer as part of the agreement President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reached from their Singapore summit in June.

I had assumed that it would have taken a lot longer than just approximately three months to identify some of the remains.

It’s amazing to me what forensic sciences can do these days.

0
Sparks

Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil now. God be with your families.

0
Green Thumb

Welcome home, men.

Rest well.

0
5th/77thFA

Welcome Home Men. Peace be unto your Families. Thanks again and hat tips to Hondo for bringing these posts, 2/17 Air Cav, and Skyjumper for the “rest of the story.”

0
UpNorth

Welcome home, brothers. Rest in peace.

0
RGR 4-78

Welcome Home.

0
«
»