Press Release | Sept. 7, 2023

Pilot Accounted For From WW II (Winger, G)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces 1^st Lt. George W. Winger, 25, of Columbus, Ohio, killed during World War II, was accounted for January 24, 2023.

In the summer of 1943, Winger was assigned to the 66th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Winger was serving as the pilot 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. 

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.

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 for examination and identification.

To identify Winger’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Winger’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site 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.

Winger will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date to be determined.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

Press Release | Sept. 5, 2023

Tanker Accounted for from WWII (Brooks, T.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Thomas F. Brooks, 23, of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for June 20, 2023.

In late 1942, Brooks was a member of the Company D, 194th Tank Battalion, US Army Forces Far East, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and interned at POW camps.  Brooks was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.

According to prison camp and other historical records, Brooks died Dec. 10, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 917.

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 mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Five sets of remains from Common Grave 917 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.

In early 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 917 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Brooks’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Brooks’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).

Brooks will be buried on October 01, 2023, in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

Press Release | Sept. 1, 2023

Soldier Accounted for from WWII (Moniz, D.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pvt. Daniel Moniz, 19, of Hayward, California, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 5, 2023.

In November 1944, Moniz was assigned to Medical Detachment, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Hürtgen, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was killed in action on Nov. 11. Due to the tactical situation, his remains could not be immediately recovered.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Moniz’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable in December 1951.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-8122 St. Avold, recovered from Germeter and Hürtgen possibly belonged to Moniz. The remains, which had been buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Saint-Avold, France, in 1949, were disinterred in 2018 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification. While analyzing X-8122, DPAA scientists also examined X-8118 St. Avold, had been recovered commingled with X-8122.

To identify Moniz’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Moniz’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margraten, Netherlands, 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.

Moniz will be buried in Hayward, California, on September 29, 2023.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

Press Release | Aug. 31, 2023

Soldier Accounted for from Korean War (Baty, W.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Sgt. Willie J. Baty, 20, of Mexia, Texas, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Feb. 8, 2023.

In the fall of 1950, Baty was a member of L Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Sept. 14 when his unit was forced to withdraw from the Masan area of the Pusan Perimeter, South Korea. Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered, and there is no evidence that he was ever a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953, and his remains were determined to be nonrecoverable on Jan. 16, 1956.

The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps (AGRSG) was responsible for recovering, identifying, and repatriating those lost during the Korean War.  In late 1950 they recovered a set remains designated as Unknown X-159 near Masan. After extensive analysis by the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan was unable to identify X-159 the remains were declared unidentifiable. In Dec. 1950, the remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, with other Korean War Unknowns.

In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In March 2019, DPAA disinterred X-159 as part of Phase One of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

To identify Baty’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, isotope and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Baty’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Baty will be buried in Dallas, Texas, on Sept. 15, 2023.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

Press Release | Aug. 31, 2023

Airman Accounted for from WWII (Newman, I.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Sergeant Irving R. Newman, 22, of Los Angeles, California, missing in action during World War II, was accounted for June 20, 2023.

In May 1943, Newman was assigned to the 343d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force, in the European Theater. On May 6, Newman along with the other nine crewmembers of a B-24D Liberator were participating in a bombing mission of Reggio di Calabria harbor, in Sicily. While heading to the target, their plane began experiencing engine trouble forcing the pilots to make a course correction away from the main bomber group, directly into enemy anti-aircraft fire. During an emergency landing the plane caught fire and crashed into the water near Benghajsa Point, Malta, injuring at least five crewmembers. Nine airmen survived the incident, but Sgt Newman was not able to be rescued and his remains were not recovered following the war.

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In 1949, a board of officers reviewed the AGRS field investigations for 82 personnel missing from the Mediterranean area, including Sgt Newman. The board recommended the individuals be designated non-recoverable. The Identification Branch of the Office of the Quartermaster General approved the recommendation on 6 September 1949.

In recent years, the University of Malta and a private company located the wreckage of a B-24D near Benghajsa Point, Malta, at a depth of 180 feet. Beginning in 2018, a partner organization supported by DPAA archaeology recovered material evidence, life support equipment, and suspected human remains from this crash site.

To identify Newman’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and dental analysis.

Newman’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery an American Battle Monuments Commission site 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.

Newman will be buried at a place and time to be determined later.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.