Press Release | Oct. 31, 2018

Funeral Announcement For USS Oklahoma Sailor Killed During World War II (Kvidera, W.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from World War II are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Navy Carpenter’s Mate 3rd Class William L. Kvidera, 22, of Traer, Iowa, accounted for on July 3, 2018, will be buried November 16 in Traer, Iowa. On Dec. 7, 1941, Kvidera was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Kvidera.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.

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 Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Kvidera.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the Punchbowl for analysis.
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To identify Kvidera’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (Y-STR) DNA analysis, dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.

DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this recovery.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,784 (approximately 26,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted for from World War II. Kvidera’s name 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.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Press Release | Oct. 30, 2018

Funeral Announcement For Soldier Killed During World War II (McBride, E.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from World War II, are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Sgt. Eugene G. McBride, 20, of Lincoln, Nebraska, accounted for on Sept. 10, 2018, will be buried November 12 in his hometown. In January 1945, McBride was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 311th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division. On Jan. 30, 1945, while engaged in an attack against enemy forces near Huppenbroich, Germany, McBride was killed by a blast from an enemy artillery shell. His remains were not identified by American forces after the battle.

On Feb. 18, 1945, Army officials at United States Military Cemetery Margraten processed unidentified remains of a Soldier who had reportedly been killed near Huppenbroich, Germany. The remains, designated X-90 Margraten, had no identification tags and were subsequently buried at the cemetery as an unknown soldier.

After the war, the American Graves Registration Command traveled to Huppenbroich and extensively searched the Hürtgen Forest, to locate McBride’s and another soldier’s remains. In 1949, American Graves Registration Command officials pursued the possibility of an association between X-90 Margraten and McBride. However, a positive identification could not be made and the remains were interred at the Rhone American Cemetery in France, on Jan. 7, 1952.

Unable to make a correlation with any remains found in the area, he was declared non-recoverable on Jan. 7, 1952.

In 2016, based upon a comprehensive study of unresolved American losses of the Hürtgen Forest, the original recovery location of the remains, and evidence from the personal effects recovered with X-90 Margraten, a DPAA historian determined that there was a likely association between the remains and McBride.

In June 2017, the Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission disinterred X-90 and accessioned the remains to the DPAA laboratory for identification

To identify McBride’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

DPAA is grateful the American Battle Monuments Commission for their partnership in this mission.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,784 service members (approximately 26,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted for from World War II. McBride’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium, an American Battle Monuments Commission site along with the other MIAs from WWII. Although interred as an Unknown, McBride’s grave was meticulously cared for by ABMC for 70 years. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Press Release | Oct. 30, 2018

Funeral Announcement For Soldier Killed During World War II (Worrell, M.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from World War II, are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Pfc. Morris R. Worrell, 20, of Wisner, Nebraska, accounted for on Aug. 13, 2018, will be buried November 10 in his hometown. Worrell was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of the Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942. Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were taken prisoner; including many who were forced to endure the Bataan Death March, en route to Japanese prisoner of war (POW) camps, including the POW camp at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, Philippines. Worrell was among those reported captured after the surrender of Corregidor and who were eventually moved to the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the remaining years of the war.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were taken prisoner; including many who were forced to endure the Bataan Death March, en route to Japanese prisoner of war (POW) camps, including the POW camp at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, Philippines. Worrell was among those reported captured after the surrender of Corregidor and who were eventually moved to the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the remaining years of the war.

According to prisoner records, Worrell died on Sept. 27, 1942, and was buried along with fellow prisoners in the local Cabanatuan camp cemetery.

Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military cemetery near Manila. In late 1947, the AGRS again exhumed the remains at the Manila cemetery in an attempt to identify them. Due to the circumstances of the POW deaths and burials, the extensive commingling, and the limited identification technologies of the time, all of the remains could not be individually identified. The unidentified remains were reburied as unknowns in the present-day Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

In May 2016, the Secretary of the Army granted permission to exhume six graves associated with the Cabanatuan Common Grave 439. On May 11, 2016, the remains were sent to DPAA for identification.
To identify Worrell’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission for their partnership in this mission.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,784 service members (approximately 26,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted for from World War II. Worrell’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, an ABMC site along with the other MIAs from WWII. Although interred as an “unknown” in Manila American Cemetery, Worrell’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Press Release | Oct. 29, 2018

Funeral Announcement For Soldier Killed During Korean War (Jones, E.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from the Korean War, are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Cpl. Edward M. Jones, 20, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, accounted for on Sept. 13, 2018, will be buried November 9 in his hometown. In February 1951, Jones was a member of Company D, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, supporting Republic of Korea Army attacks against units of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) near Hoengsong, South Korea. On Feb. 12, 1951 Jones was reported missing in action when he could not be accounted for by his unit.

After the war, during Operation Little Switch, where sick, wounded and prisoners from each side were exchanged, a returning American POW reported that Jones had died at the Suan Bean Camp, a prisoner of war camp in North Korea. Based on this information, the U.S. Army declared Jones deceased as of March 16, 1951.

Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea returned to the United States 208 boxes of commingled human remains, which were later determined to contain the remains of at least 400 U.S. servicemen who died during the war. On Dec. 21, 1993, North Korea turned over 34 boxes of remains believed to be unaccounted-for servicemen from the war, 22 which were reported to have been in the vicinity of the Suan POW Camp Complex.

To identify Jones’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and autosomal (auSTR) DNA analysis, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

DPAA looks forward to the continued fulfillment of the commitment made by President Trump and Chairman Kim on the return and recovery of U.S. service members in North Korea.

Today, 7,676 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously returned by North Korean officials or recovered from North Korea by American recovery teams. Jones’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Press Release | Oct. 29, 2018

Funeral Announcement For Marine Killed During World War II (Lukie, J.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from World War II, have returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Joe Lukie, 19, of Harvey, West Virginia, accounted for on Sept. 5, 2017, was buried October 27, in Oak Hill, West Virginia. In November 1943, Lukie was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Lukie died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943.

Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.

In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but Lukie’s remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu.

In November 2013, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (now DPAA) team conducted investigations at a disturbed cemetery site on the Island of Betio, recovering material evidence and osseous remains, which were sent to DPAA for analysis.

On April 3, 2017, DPAA disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-201 from the NMCP, sent them to the laboratory for analysis and consolidated them with previously collected remains.

To identify Lukie’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparisons, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,787 service members (approximately 26,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted for from World War II. Lukie’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the NMCP, along with the other MIAs from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For more information regarding the funeral, contact the Marine Corps Service Casualty Office at (800) 847-1597.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.