{"id":146270,"date":"2023-08-23T07:38:35","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T11:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=146270"},"modified":"2023-08-22T21:39:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T01:39:08","slug":"four-more-accounted-for-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=146270","title":{"rendered":"Four More Accounted For"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Defense MIA\/POW Accounting Agency<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/blockquote>\n
\"\"<\/a>
USS Oklahoma (BB-37)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II<\/h2>\n

Navy Ship\u2019s Cook 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Class Clarence Thompson<\/h2>\n

The Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Ship\u2019s Cook 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Class Clarence Thompson, 47, of\u00a0New Orleans, Louisiana, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Oct. 14, 2021.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 7, 1941, Thompson was assigned to the battleship USS\u00a0Oklahoma<\/em>, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS\u00a0Oklahoma<\/em>\u00a0sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Thompson.<\/p>\n

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu\u2019uanu Cemeteries.<\/p>\n

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS\u00a0Oklahoma<\/em>\u00a0at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Thompson.<\/p>\n

Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS\u00a0Oklahoma<\/em>\u00a0Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.<\/p>\n

To identify Thompson\u2019s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the\u00a0Armed Forces Medical Examiner System\u00a0used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.<\/p>\n

Thompson\u2019s\u00a0name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.<\/p>\n

Thompson will be buried on\u00a0Aug. 25, 2023, in Slidell, Louisiana.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Airman Accounted For From World War II<\/h2>\n

U.S. Army Air Forces 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Lt. Howard L. Dickson<\/h2>\n

The Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Lt. Howard L. Dickson, 30, of Dayton, Ohio, killed during World War II, was accounted for Aug. 23, 2022.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 1943, Dickson was assigned to the 328th<\/sup>\u00a0Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93rd<\/sup>\u00a0Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th<\/sup>\u00a0Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber on which Dickson was a gunner and instructor was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following the war. The remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.<\/p>\n

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel, disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification. The AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 unknowns from Bolovan Cemetery, and those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.<\/p>\n

In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses. These remains were sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.<\/p>\n

To identify Dickson\u2019s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the\u00a0Armed Forces Medical Examiner System\u00a0used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.<\/p>\n

Dickson\u2019s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an\u00a0American Battle Monuments Commission<\/a>\u00a0site in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.<\/p>\n

Dickson will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date yet to be determined.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Airman Accounted For From WWII<\/h2>\n

Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. James M. Triplett<\/h2>\n

The Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. James M. Triplett, 36, of Spokane, Washington, killed during World War II, was accounted for Oct. 25, 2022.<\/p>\n

In September 1944, Triplett was assigned to 700th Bombardment Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group, 2d Air Division, 8th Air Force. On Sept. 27, the B-24H Liberator bomber on which he was serving as a radio operator was part of a large mission to bomb the industrial city Kassel in northern Hesse, Germany. During the mission the formation of aircraft encountered heavy resistance from enemy ground and air forces, which resulted in the rapid loss of 25 Liberators. Several of the crew aboard Triplett\u2019s aircraft were able to bail out, and witnesses who survived did not report seeing him escape the aircraft. Six of the nine crew members were killed. His body was not\u00a0recovered, and the Germans never reported him as a prisoner of war. The War Department issued a finding of death on Sept. 28, 1945.<\/p>\n

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They discovered the Liberator crash site outside of Richelsdorf, Germany. An identification tag for one of the missing crew members was discovered at this site, linking it to the loss of Triplett’s crew.<\/p>\n

DPAA historians are conducting ongoing, comprehensive research focused on air losses over Germany, and in 2009 sent an investigation team to investigate a crash site near Richelsdorf, which was recommended for excavation. Subsequently, three DPAA recovery teams performed excavation operations at the crash site in 2015 and 2016. Identification media correlated the site to the B-24H on which Triplett flew. Remains recovered from the crash site during these excavations were sent to the DPAA laboratory for\u00a0examination and identification.<\/p>\n

To identify Triplett\u2019s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the\u00a0Armed Forces Medical Examiner System<\/a>\u00a0used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.<\/p>\n

Triplett\u2019s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Luxembourg American Cemetery, an\u00a0American Battle Monuments Commission<\/a>\u00a0site in Luxembourg, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.<\/p>\n

Triplett will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 31, 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Medal of Honor Sailor Accounted For From World War II<\/h2>\n

Navy Seaman 1st Class James R. Ward<\/h2>\n

The Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Seaman 1st Class James R. Ward, 20, of Springfield, Ohio, killed during World War II, and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, was accounted for on Aug. 19, 2021.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 7, 1941, Ward was assigned to the battleship USS\u00a0Oklahoma<\/em>, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS\u00a0Oklahoma<\/em>\u00a0sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen.<\/p>\n

Before the ship capsized and the order was given to abandon ship, Ward remained in a turret holding a flashlight so the remainder of the turret crew could see to escape, thereby sacrificing his own life. For conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, Ward\u2019s parents were presented with his Medal of Honor in March 1942. And the destroyer escort USS J. Richard Ward DE-243 was named in honor of Seaman Ward. It was commissioned in 1943 and decommissioned in 1946.<\/p>\n

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu\u2019uanu Cemeteries.<\/p>\n

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS\u00a0Oklahoma<\/em>\u00a0at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Ward.<\/p>\n

Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS\u00a0Oklahoma<\/em>\u00a0Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.<\/p>\n

To identify Ward\u2019s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the\u00a0Armed Forces Medical Examiner System\u00a0used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.<\/p>\n

Ward\u2019s\u00a0name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.<\/p>\n

Ward will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, on a date yet to be determined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II Navy Ship\u2019s Cook 1st\u00a0Class Clarence Thompson The … Four More Accounted For<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":654,"featured_media":138969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[210],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-no-longer-missing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/654"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/138969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}