DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
S1c Natale I. Torti, 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 3 May 2018.
Pfc William F. Cavin, USMC, assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, was lost on Tarawa on 20 November 1943. He was accounted for on 2 May 2018.
PFC Oscar E. Sappington, US Army, assigned to 3rd Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 309th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division, was lost in Germany on 11 January 1945. He was accounted for on 27 April 2018.
From Korea
CPL Donald L. Baker, US Army, assigned to Company H, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, was lost in South Korea on 6 September 1950. He was accounted for on 20 March 2018. (See Note.)
SFC Rufus L. Ketchum, US Army, assigned to Medical Detachment, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, was lost in North Korea, on 6 December 1950. He was accounted for on 24 April 2018.
CPL Terrell J. Fuller, US Army, assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, was lost in South Korea on 12 February 1951. He was accounted for on 27 April 2018.
From Southeast Asia
Col. Peter J. Stewart,, USAF, assigned to Headquarters, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, was lost in Vietnam on 15 March 1966. He was accounted for on 20 March 2018. (See Note.)
LTC Robert G. Nopp, 131st Aviation Company, was lost in Laos on 13 July 1966. He was accounted for on 2 February 2018. (See Note.)
Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.
Rest easy. You’re home now.
. . .
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 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. The answer to 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 can be viewed in DPAA’s 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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Author’s Notes:
1. DPAA apparently accounted for LTC Nopp in February, 2018, and for CPL Baker and Col. Stewart in March, 2018. It is my belief that DPAA “slipstreamed” these individuals’ recovery and definitive identifiation into their “Recently Accounted For” page after I’d published the “No Longer Missing” article corresponding to the week of their formal accounting. However, it’s also remotely possible I simply missed the original DPAA announcements. Either way: my apologies.
2. The rank of LTC listed for LTC Nopp appears to include promotions while in MIA status. A comment previously made here at TAH indicates that Nopp’s rank at time of loss was Captain.
