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Another Eight Are Accounted For

by Hondo••10

DPAA has apparently not been updating its “Recently Accounted For” list for the past 2 weeks. However, per recent press releases the following individuals have been announced as having been accounted for during that same period.

From World War II

MM1c Paul H. Gebser, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1944. His accounting was announced on 25 February 2020.

F1c Leo T. Keninger, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1944. His accounting was announced on 27 February 2020.

F1c Dan E. Reagan, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1944. His accounting was announced on 2 March 2020.

F1c Andrew J. Schmitz, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1944. His accounting was announced on 27 February 2020.

F1c James C. Webb, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1944. His accounting was announced on 24 February 2020.

S1c Everett G. Windle, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1944. His accounting was announced on 24 February 2020.

PVT James J. Cansler, US Army, assigned to C Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, was lost in the Hurtgen Forest, Germany, on 17 December 1944. His accounting was announced on 3 March 2020.

From Korea

’

SGT David C. Sewell, US Army, assigned to M Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, was lost in North Korea on 28 November 1950. His accounting was announced on 25 February 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.

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10 thoughts on “Another Eight Are Accounted For”

  3. We raise a glass in Toast to these Warriors to pay Honors to their Sacrifice. Welcome Home, Men! #neverforget

    Thanks Hondo.

  7. This in today.

    Army reburies five soldiers from 1800s found during Tampa construction
    By: PAUL GUZZO

    Their names will likely never be known, but now their service will be remembered.

    More than a year ago, the remains of five soldiers buried in the Fort Brooke Estuary Cemetery during the 1800s were discovered as the area near Channelside Drive and Meridian Avenue was being developed as part of the $3 billion Water Street project in downtown Tampa.

    On Wednesday, the U.S. Army reburied the soldiers at the Curlew Hills Memory Gardens in Palm Harbor with a military service that included a rifle salute by the Florida Army National Guard’s Honor Guard.

    “The Army honors America’s commitment to never forget or forsake those who served and sacrificed for our country,” Col. Wayne Marotto with the Office of Army Cemeteries told the Tampa Bay Times.

    “The interment of the Fort Brooke unknown soldiers symbolizes the Army’s commitment to honor and remember all soldiers.”

    There were few human remains left after all these years, Marotto said, so each was placed in a separate container and the five containers were placed in a single coffin.

    Read the entire article here: American Military News

  9. Welcome home American heroes.
    There have been many from the USS Oklahoma recently. Has there been some effort to refloat or remove the Oklahoma from
    its sunken grave?

    1. Very doubtful – and I’m reasonably sure that it wouldn’t matter, since I seriously doubt any remains were on the USS Oklahoma when it finally sank in 1947.

      The USS Oklahoma was righted and the ship was re-floated during 1944; I’m reasonably sure that any human remains still on-board were removed shortly afterwards. However, the ship was in such bad shape that it was deemed only fit for salvage. All usable equipment, and much structural steel, was removed during World War II. The remaining hulk was stored at Pearl.

      In 1946, the hulk was auctioned off for salvage. In May 1947, an attempt was made to tow the hulk to the West Coast; however, the towing tugs and the hulk were caught in a storm over 500mi from Hawaii. The USS Oklahoma swamped and sank during that storm.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oklahoma_(BB-37)

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