Press Release | Aug. 17, 2022

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Bock, J.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Seaman 2nd Class John G. Bock, Jr., 18, of St. Louis, killed during World War II, was accounted for on May 19, 2021.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Bock 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 Bock.

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 Bock.

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

To identify Bock’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Bock’s name is recorded on the Walls 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.

Bock will be buried on Sept. 27, 2022, at the Punchbowl.

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

Press Release | Aug. 17, 2022

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

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Fireman 2nd Class Edward E. Casinger, 21, of Senath, Missouri, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Oct. 1, 2021.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Casinger 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 Casinger.

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 Casinger.

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

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

Casinger’s name is recorded on the Walls 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.

Casinger will be buried on Nov. 18, 2022, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

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

Press Release | Aug. 4, 2022

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

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pfc. Lowell D. Smith, 24, of Battle Creek, Michigan, killed during World War II, was accounted for June 21, 2022.

In January 1945, Smith was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. The unit was in regimental reserve during the Battle of Reipertswiller in France. On Jan. 21, Smith was part of a Browning Automatic Rifle squad when his company attacked German forces surrounding several companies in an attempt to help them break out. Company F immediately drew enemy artillery and mortar fire followed by sniper and machine-gun fire and was forced to withdraw. When the unit reassembled following the withdrawal, Smith was missing. In May that year, Army personnel reviewing captured German records discovered a German death report for Smith dated the day he went missing.

Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, searched the area around Reipertswiller, finding 37 unidentified sets of American remains, but it was unable to identify any of them as Smith. He was declared non-recoverable on July 19, 1951.

DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Reipertswiller, and found that Unknown X-8062 St. Avold, buried at Lorraine American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in St. Avold, France, could be associated with Smith. X-8062 was disinterred in June 2021 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.

To identify Smith’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.

Smith’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Dinozé, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Smith will be buried in Augusta, Michigan, at a date yet to be determined.

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

Press Release | Aug. 3, 2022

Marine Accounted For From World War II (Teter, F.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Marine Corps Reserve Pvt. Fay G. Teter, 17, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Aug. 2, 2022.

In November 1943, Teter was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, 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, while the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Teter was killed on the third day of the battle, Nov. 22, 1943. His remains were reportedly buried in Cemetery 33.

Press Release | Aug. 3, 2022

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

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pvt. Carl G. Dorsey, 19, of Moline, Kansas, killed during World War II, was accounted for June 15, 2022.

In December 1944, Dorsey was assigned to Company I, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Grosshau, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was reported missing in action on Dec. 4. His body unable to be recovered, and the Germans never reported him as a prisoner of war. He was declared killed in action Dec. 5, 1945.

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 Dorsey’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable in December 1950.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-2760 Neuville, recovered east of Grosshau near Gey, Germany, in 1946 possibly belonged to Dorsey. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, in 1950, were disinterred in July 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.

To identify Dorsey’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) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

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

Dorsey will be buried Sept. 3, 2022, in Grenola, Kansas.

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