Another Six Return

Per DPAA’s “Recently Accounted For” webpage, the following formerly-missing US personnel were publicly announced as having been accounted for during the past week.

From World War II

RM3c Thomas E. Griffith, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. His accounting was announced on 8 June 2020.

RM3c Irvin F. Rice, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. His accounting was announced on 12 June 2020.

S1c Wesley E. Graham, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. His accounting was announced on 12 June 2020.

S2c James M. Flanagan, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. His accounting was announced on 12 June 2020.

From Korea

SGT Stanley L. DeWitt, US Army, assigned to Medical Detachment, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, was lost in North Korea on 6 December 1950. His accounting was announced on 8 June 2020.

CPL Pete Conley, US Army, assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, was lost in North Korea on 12 December 1950. His accounting was announced on 9 June 2020.

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 7,500 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.