Another Four Return
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
F1c Grant C. Cook, Jr., 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 17 October 2018.
F1c Angelo M. Gabriele, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS West Virginia, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. He was accounted for on 24 October 2018.
Wiper Elvis N. Spotts, US Merchant Marine, assigned to the crew of the SS Cape Isabel, was lost at Tarawa Atoll on 22 February 1944. He was accounted for on 23 October 2018.
From Korea
None
From Southeast Asia
Mr. George L. Ritter, civilian employee of Air America Incorporated, was lost in Laos on 27 December 1971. He was accounted for on 4 October 2018.
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.
———-
Author’s Note: DPAA apparently “slip-streamed” the entry for Air America employee George L. Ritter into their “Recently Accounted For” page listing sometime during the past 3 weeks.
Given the history and mission of Air America in Southeast Asia, the announcement of Mr. Ritter’s accounting being made in a low-key, behind-the-scenes fashion simply seems . . . somehow apropos.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home.
From Southeast Asia
“Mr. George L. Ritter, civilian employee of Air America Incorporated”
Curious if he is related to Congressman Don Ritter who was involved with preventing repatriation of Hmong to the LPDR which spelled certain death. Circa early nineties. He was a congressman in early seventies.
Navy Fireman 1st Class Grant C. Cook, Jr.: On Dec. 7, 1941, Cook was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Cook. Fireman first class Grant Cook Jr. of Cozad, Nebr., had been a football player. He quit his job at a local garage to pursue his dream of joining the Navy. He has been missing since Dec. 7, 1941, when his ship, the USS Oklahoma, was torpedoed and capsized in Pearl Harbor. A VFW post in Cozad today bears his name. ?resize=750%2C938 F1c Angelo M. Gabriele: On Dec. 7, 1941, Gabriele was assigned to the battleship USS West Virginia, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS West Virginia sustained multiple torpedo hits, but timely counter-flooding measures taken by the crew prevented it from capsizing, and it came to rest on the shallow harbor floor. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 106 crewmen, including Gabriele. Angelo M. Gabriele was born in Nutley, New Jersey Merchant Marine Wiper Elvis N. Spotts: In February 1944, Spotts was a crew member of the SS Cape Isabel, part of a convoy of three ships including the USS Grayson and the SS Cape Fear. On Feb. 22, 1944, the ships were approximately 12 miles off the coast of Tarawa Atoll. The two Merchant Marine vessels were bringing supplies to Betio Island. Spotts was electrocuted during bilge maintenance. He was unable to be revived. ?_nc_cat=110&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=52f8cfa811f10e258835ff1ee1afc1ce&oe=5C8A9AD0 Mr. George L. Ritter: On Dec. 27, 1971, Ritter, an employee of Air America Incorporated, was piloting an Air America C-123K from Udorn Airfield, Kingdom of Thailand, headed for Xienhom District, Xaingnabouli Province, Laos. The aircraft was on a routine resupply mission for U.S. Agency for International Development and was last heard from when they were northeast of Sayaboury. Laos. Search and rescue efforts were… Read more »
Thanks for the further on Ritter.
I’m going through some old books on the subject looking for a reference.
Some amazing stories came out of the secret wars in Laos and Cambodia. Nice to see a volunteer returned.
Spotts joined the Merchant Marine in 1943 and was on board the SS Isabel, 12 miles from Tarawa, when he was electrocuted. His body was removed from the ship and buried along with the Marines who were lost in the battle months earlier. After the war, his mother wanted his body returned and this request prompted an investigation (File link below.) What seemed routine became the nightmare of lost graves, among which was that of Spotts. Those graves were ultimately located by History Flight, Inc.
Elvis Spotts. Forever 18.
http://wwiiresearchandwritingcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Spotts-Elvis-N-Z-394396-Buried-Tarawa.pdf
Angelo Gabriele was 19 in the 1940 census and living in Trenton, New Jersey with his widowed mother, Mary, and his two brothers, aged 17 and 15. Sometime thereafter, he enlisted in the Navy, as did at least one of his two brothers, Leonard. Leonard survived the war, serving on a destroyer in the Pacific, and lived to be 91. His obituary recounts that Angelo was killed aboard the West Virginia at Pearl Harbor. That says a lot to me and probably to you.
Welcome home, Angelo.
Grant Clark Cook’s background is in question. It strongly appears that he was a Nebraskan and that he was most likely 19 when he joined the Navy and was all of 20 when he was killed at Pearl Harbor. The issue of his background stems from a listing of his mother as being Hazel who died in 1924, but the 1940 census list his mother as Pearl Cook, age 33. It could well be that that the woman who gave birth to Grant died when he was an infant and that his Dad remarried. What we do know is that among the many casualties caused by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 was a young sailor named Grant Clark Cook, Jr. and that his mortal remains are unidentified no longer.
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil now. God be with your families.
Welcome home.
Welcome home Warriors. May we not rest till we find and bring all of them home. Thanks again to Hondo for the posts and to Skyjumper and 2/17 AC for “the rest of the story. Sky mix yourself up multiple doses of good brandy/bourbon with a splash of lemon squeezings, honey and a little brown sugar. May not cure what ails you, but enough doses and you won’t care how bad you feel. The addition infor on these folks add so much. Have noticed lately, how many have been IDed near their birthday, at least two today, with Spotts and Ritter both Oct babies. Can’t imagine the pain Mama Spotts was going thru, just trying to get her boy back home. I mean, after all, his body was complete, taken off the ship and buried in a known site. Not like he was one of the Marines in the ground assault taking a direct hit from an artillery round and scattered all over the beach. The Ritter case bears repeating of a post/comment I made a while back. To wit, “Did we get all of our POWs back in the exchanges? No!” “Are any of them still alive now? Probably not!” According to one of the links on Ritter, he had been possibly spotted well after 1973. Unless I missed it somewhere, the additional links did not say how Ritters remains were found/returned.
There are probably things going on behind the scenes that we just don’t need to know about. Better that we simply express our gratitude and leave it at that.
An excellent early book on the subject is
“KISS the BOYS GOODBYE” by Monica Stevenson and Willaim Stevenson
“How the United States betrayed its own POWs in Vietnam”.
ISBN 0-525-24934-6
Yep, got that in 1st edition hard copy, read and re-read. Pissed me off to no end. Is one reason why I posted my above comment again. No one will ever convince me that all of the boys unaccounted for killed, “remains unrecoverable.” Just my opinion. YMMV
My interest in the book was for info on Lima site 85 (Phou Pha Thi) but found a great deal of info on Garwood.
I’m still not convinced he was a POW.
Yeah, POS Garwood, he was a piece of work, bout like ol’Bowie Dahell can’t pull that deserting POS’s name out of my damaged memory banks, it’ll wake me up at 0 God 30 in the morning. You know, we wanna try to give people the whole benefit of the doubt, but a lot of times when the bull shit meter is pegged, it just ain’t worth the effort. Posts on this thread and the Stolen Valor stuff is what brought me here as a lurker a coupla three years ago. I’m working getting the time and going back thru the years since Jonn started up and digging thru the older ones. Y’all keep up the good work, and try to keep us away from staplers and basements; God forbid we develop a drinking problem. jc nsnr
Welcome Home.
Welcome Home to all.
Welcome Home Fallen Warriors, you have earned your place in History and Valhalla.
Welcome Home, Warriors. I am humbled by your sacrifice.