Another Two Return
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
CWO John A. Austin, 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 5 October 2018.
F1c Creighton H. Workman, 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 5 October 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 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.
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Author’s Note: Cutoff for this week’s NLM article was Thursday evening due to unanticipated travel. It therefore does not include individuals publicized by DPAA as accounted for on 12 October 2018
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome Home.
Welcome home.
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil.
This is on topic but does not involve DPAA. You heard of History Flight, which has done much to find the lost graves of Marines (chiefly but not exclusively) in the Pacific. The Bentprop Project (https://bentprop.org) is another great outfit whose volunteers look for missing remains of US servicemen. In 2016, a partnership was formed with scientists at the University of Delaware, UC San Diego, and the folks at Bentprop and Project Recover was formed. The partnership bore great fruit, locating a B-24 D-1 bomber in 213 feet of water in Hansa Bay off Papua New Guinea. The a/c was on a bombing mission when it was shot down. Eleven crew members were lost. When the remains of each are positively identified, I expect we will be reading about it here. The bomber’s nickname was “Heaven Can Wait.”
It is wonderfully refreshing to read what a partnership between private and public researchers can do when they are allowed to do so.
Iowan Creighton Hale Workman was the only son of Lee and Marietta Workman. Creighton was 22 when the Japanese took his life at Pearl Harbor. His mother died in 1965 and her headstone bears both Creighton’s name and hers. Welcome home, son.
Chief Carpenter John Austin was 36 and alive when the USS Oklahoma capsized at Pearl Harbor, but he and more than a dozen other crew were trapped. Through his efforts, a porthole was located and he helped the other men escape certain death. In doing so, he lost his own life that they might live. For his selflessness and exceptional courage, he was posthumously presented with the Navy Cross. Chief Carpenter Austin was born in Alabama.
(Note: The DPP lists Navy Cross Recipient Austin as a CWO. There was only one man on board the Oklahoma by the name of Austin and his Chief Carpenter title I took from his citation.)
2/17 Air Cav forwards-
Valor Military Times
No greater love. Thanks, Cav.