Another Returns from the Korean War

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

• CPL Dudley L. Evans, G Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 15 February 1951 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 29 January 2016.

You’re no longer missing, elder brother-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.

You’re home now.  Rest in peace.

. . .

Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA).  Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page.  The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to refer you to someone who can answer that question – or may be able to answer the question themselves.  If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact one of those POCs for further information.

If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a mtDNA 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.