Another Three Return
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
S1c Frank A. Hryniewicz, 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 30 January 2019.
Pvt Ted Hall, USMC, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. He was accounted for on 24 January 2019.
1st. Lt. Howard T. Lurcott, US Army, assigned to 38th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 30th Bombardment Group, US Army Air Forces, was lost on Tarawa on 21 January 1944. He was accounted for on 30 January 2019.
From Korea
None
From Southeast Asia
None
Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
You’re home now. Rest easy.
. . .
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. 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 is found in one of the 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.
Long after the war, Marine Ted Hall’s friend and fellow Marine, Donald Lowery, recalled that Ted tried to awaken him to go to the mess that infamous Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor but that Donald drifted back to sleep. Shortly thereafter, Lowery was forced to his feet by the sounds and shudder of bombs and torpedoes. He never again saw Ted Hall who died in the ship’s mess that morning. The two had enlisted together nearly six months before the attack and went through training together before being assigned to the USS Oklahoma. Lowery lived a long life, passing away at age 86 in 2004. Like too many other young men, Ted Hall never got that chance. At least he can now be home.
When the 1930 census was taken, Frank Hryniewicz was eight years old and living with his family in the village of Three Rivers within Palmer, Hampden county, Massachusetts. His parents, like so many others in that community, were from Poland and had arrived here in 1912. Frank, in 1930, was the youngest of the couple’s three children, two boys and a girl. A first-generation American, nearly lost to time, Frank Hryniewicz is found and can now be home.
Welcome Home Men!….Hand Salute
Thank y’all, again, Hondo and 2/17 Air Cav
Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 22-year old Howard T. Lurcott enlisted as an aviation cadet with the Army Air Corps. He had been working as a salesman with his Dad in Philadelphia, his place of birth, and living with his parents, Alfred and Esther, and his two siblings, aged 17 and 12. Lurcott was an experienced combat Veteran when, on 21 January 1944, he was piloting a Liberator when it went down soon after taking off from Hawkins Field, Tarawa, on a bombing mission. All on board were killed, their remains recovered and buried. A few of their graves were lost and Lurcott’s was one of them. They were found by History Flight, Inc. ( http://historyflight.com/nw/ ) His mortal remains known only to God for too long, Howard T. Lurcott is home.
Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil now.
I look forward to these Sunday morning reconnections with these Warriors and the back story supplied by others. Thanks to the both of you for this.
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
Welcome Home.