Another Five Return

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

From World War II

FM3c Herbert B. Jacobson, 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 6 November 2019.

Cpl Thomas H. Cooper, USMC, assigned to Company A, 2nd Amphibious Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. His accounting was announced on 4 November 2019.

PVT Horace H. Middleton, US Army, assigned to F Company, 2nd Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), was lost in Burma on 12 July 1944. His accounting was announced on 4 November 2019.

From Korea

CPL Leon E. Clevenger, US Army, assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, was lost in South Korea on 11 July 1950. His accounting was announced on 7 November 2019.

CPL Earl W. Duncan, US Army, assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, 31st Regimental Combat Team, was lost in North Korea on 2 December 1950. His accounting was announced on 4 November 2019.

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