Press Release | Oct. 28, 2022

Airman Accounted For From World War II (Pickup, M.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup, 27, of Provo, Utah, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.

In May 1944, Pickup was assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 373rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), stationed in Yangkai, China. He was a passenger onboard a B-24J Liberator bomber on a ferrying mission from China to Chabua, Assam, India. The plane never made it to its destination after encountering bad weather, and the Army reported the plane as missing.

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS), the military unit responsible for investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater, attempted to reach the reported crash site in March and November 1947, but were unsuccessful. In December that year, the AGRS determined reaching the site was too dangerous and the remains of the crew, including Pickup, be declared non-recoverable.

In 2008 and 2010, a third-party wreck hunter located and visited the crash site and reported seeing aircraft wreckage, military equipment, and possible human remains. In March 2014, the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, confirmed wreckage photographs taken at the site in 2010 were consistent with a B-24. In August 2019, Abor Country, an Indian travel and expedition company, successfully reached the site, documented and recovered evidence, and recovered possible human remains, which they turned over to DPAA partner Southeastern Archaeological Research (SEARCH), who was performing a DPAA recovery mission in India at the time. The items were then turned over to the Indian government. The COVID pandemic caused a delay in the evidence and possible remains being repatriated to the U.S., which finally was able to happen in March 2022.

To identify Pickup’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and 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.

Pickup’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Pickup will be buried on Dec. 17, 2022, in Provo, Utah.

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

Press Release | Oct. 20, 2022

Airman Accounted For From World War II (Gravlin, Z.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Zelwood A. Gravlin, 21, New Vineyard, Maine, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 12, 2022.

In the summer of 1943, Gravlin was assigned to the 343rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Gravlin was serving as the armorer-gunner 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 at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.

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

Gravlin’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.

Gravlin will be buried on Nov. 11, 2022, in Avon, Maine.

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

Press Release | Oct. 20, 2022

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Defibaugh, D.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Cpl. David N. Defibaugh, 18, of Duncansville, Pennsylvania, who was killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Aug. 15, 2022.

In July 1950, Defibaugh was a member of C Company, 3rd Engineer Combat Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action after his unit was forced to retreat from the vicinity of Taejon, South Korea, on July 20. Due to the fighting, his body could not be recovered at that time, and there was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.

After regaining control of Taejon in the fall of 1950, the Army began recovering remains from the area and temporarily interring them at the United Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) Taejon. One set of remains recovered during this period was designated Unknown X-12 Taejon. After extensive analysis by the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan was unable to identify X-12, the remains were declared unidentifiable. They were later sent to Hawaii where they 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. On June 10, 2019, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-12 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

To identify Defibaugh’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.

Defibaugh’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.

Defibaugh will be buried Nov. 4, 2022, in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

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

Press Release | Oct. 6, 2022

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Conway, E.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Edward L. Conway, 29, of Auburn, Illinois, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Oct. 1, 2021.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Conway 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 Conway.

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 (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Conway.

Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.

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

Conway’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s 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.

Conway will be buried on Nov. 12, 2022, in Decatur, Illinois.

For family and funeral information, contact the Navy Service Casualty office at (800) 443-9298.

Press Release | Oct. 4, 2022

Soldier Accounted For From World War II (Smith, C.)

WASHINGTON   –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pfc. Clinton E. Smith, Jr., 19, killed during World War II, was accounted for Sept. 28, 2022.

In January 1945, Smith was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. The unit was engaged with German forces during the Battle of Reipertswiller in France and was surrounded, along with four other companies. Smith was killed in an artillery strike on Jan. 14, but his body could not be recovered because of the fighting.