DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US military personnel.
From World War II
• ENS Verdi Sederstrom, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted-for on 21 July 2016.
• MM1 Earl Melton, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted-for on 21 July 2016.
• 2nd Lt. Marvin B. Rothman, 311th Fighter Squadron, 58th Fighter Group, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost on 11 April 1944 on New Guinea. He was accounted-for on 15 July 2016.
• 1st Lt. Robert L. McIntosh, 27th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost on 12 May 1944 in Italy. He was accounted-for on 17 February 2014. (Assuming the accounted-for date is accurate, apparently the formal announcement of 1st Lt. McIntosh’s recovery and accounting was severely delayed.)
From Korea
• CPL Curtis J. Wells, C Company, 65th Engineer Combat Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 27 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 21 July 2016.
• CPL Larry M. Dunn, B Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 1 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 16 July 2016.
• SGT James L. Campbell, 31st Regimental Combat Team, US Army, was lost on 2 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 26 July 2016.
• CPL Charles A. White, G Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 3 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 14 July 2016.
• CPL Ronald M. Sparks, D Company 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 12 February 1951 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 27 July 2016.
• MSG Ira V. Miss, Jr., Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 13 February 1951 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 25 July 2016. (Note: DPAA’s roster of newly accounted for personnel gives an incorrect date of loss for MSG Miss that predates the beginning of the Korean War. The date of loss given here is from the DPAA press release concerning his identification and formal accounting.)
Welcome back, elder brothers-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 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.
(Author’s Note: a regrettable editing error resulted in the replacement of information regarding several individuals previously identified in this article with information regarding other newly accounted for individuals. Those names originally replaced have been restored above. Mea culpa.)