Three More Return

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

From World War II

PVT Roy Brown, Jr., US Army, assigned to Company I, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, was lost on Papua New Guinea on 2 December 1942. He was accounted for on 14 May 2019.

2nd. Lt. Toney W. Gochnauer, US Army, assigned to 425th Bombardment Squadron, 308th Heavy Bombardment Group, 14th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, was lost at an unspecified location on 25 January 1944. He was accounted for on 13 May 2019. (see note)

From Korea

CPL Charles S. Lawler, US Army, assigned to Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, was lost in North Korea on 2 November 1950. He was accounted for on 14 May 2019.

From Southeast Asia

None

Welcome back, elder brother(6)-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.

. . .

(Note: DPAA’s website does not currently give the specific country of loss for 2nd. Lt. Gochnauer. However, additional information on the DPAA website indicates that 2nd. Lt. Gochnauer was copilot for a B-24J that departed Kunming, China, with a destination of Chabua, India. After takeoff, communications could not be established with the flight and the flight never arrived at its destination. He was therefore almost certainly lost in China, Burma, or India.)

Category: No Longer Missing