Press Release | Aug. 2, 2022

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

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pfc. Donald M. Born, 19, of Steubenville, Ohio, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for June 21, 2022.

In July 1950, Born was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. His unit took part in defensive action near Chinju at the southern end of the Korean peninsula. Early in the morning of July 30, the North Korean People’s Army launched a probing attack against Born’s unit, which then withdrew to a new position. He went missing during the attack but was not reported as officially missing in action until a month later. Born was never listed as a prisoner of war, and the Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.

In January 1951, remains, designated X-220 Masan, were recovered near the village of Pyonggo-ri in the vicinity of Chinju. The remains were initially interred at the U.S. Military Cemetery Masan before being moved to the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan. While examiners thought Born could be associated with X-220, they could not definitively prove it. X-220 was later transported with all of the unidentified Korean War remains and buried as an Unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In March 2019, during Phase 1 of DPAA’s Korean War Disinterment Project, X-220 was disinterred from the Punchbowl as part of the planned exhumation of all remains originating from the Masan area of the Pusan Perimeter, and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii for analysis.

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

Born’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.

Born will be buried Aug. 30, 2022, in Annville, Pennsylvania.

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

Press Release | July 15, 2022

Soldier Accounted For From World War II (Hathaway, A.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pvt. Alevin A. Hathaway, 20, of Hinesburg, Vermont, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 14, 2020.

In November 1944, Hathaway was assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Hürtgen, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was reported missing in action on Nov. 6. His body was not recovered, and he was declared killed in action Nov. 7, 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 Hathaway’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-2739 Neuville, recovered from a minefield south of Hürtgen in 1946 possibly belonged to Hathaway. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in April 2018 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.

To identify Hathaway’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence, including fragments of personal documents found on the battlefield. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Hathaway’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.

Hathaway will be buried in his hometown. The date has yet to be decided.

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

Press Release | July 14, 2022

Marine Accounted For From World War II (Brown, J.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Marine Corps Reserve Cpl. Jack S. Brown, 22, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 11, 2022.

In July 1944, Brown was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, which was part of the invasion force of the island of Saipan in a larger effort to capture the Mariana Islands from Japan. Brown was reported killed in action on July 8, but his body was not able to be recovered. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater. They searched for and disinterred remains on Saipan, but could not identify any as Brown. He was declared non-recoverable in November 1950.

Remains designated as Unknown X-30 2nd Marine Division Cemetery Saipan were recovered from Saipan and interred in the Fort William McKinley Cemetery, now the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in the Philippines.

After thorough historical research, it was determined that X-30 could likely be identified. Unknown X-30 was disinterred in March 2021, and sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

To identify Brown’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.

Brown’s name is recorded in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Brown will be buried Aug. 13, 2022, in Norfolk, Virginia.

For family and funeral information, contact the Marine Corps Casualty office at (866) 210-3421

Press Release | July 5, 2022

Airman Accounted For From World War II (Teaff, W.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. William F. Teaff, 26, of Steubenville, Ohio, killed during World War II, was accounted for April 20, 2022.

In the spring of 1944, Teaff was assigned to the 351st Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force. On March 6, he was the radio operator aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that was part of a larger mission to bomb targets in Berlin. German fighters attacked the B-17’s formation while it flew over the Netherlands, and Teaff’s plane was destroyed. The entire crew except for the navigator, who was killed when the plane was hit, was able to bail out before the B-17 blew up in the sky. The crew was captured by the Germans and several of them, including Teaff, were sent to Stalag Luft 6, a prisoner of war camp in Heydekrug, Germany. Teaff was one of only three Americans who died in that POW camp. He died July 10 in the nearby village of Macikai, Lithuania, where he was receiving medical treatment for diptheria.

After the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, was unable to recover the three Americans’ remains because Stalag Luft 6, now inside Lithuania because of post-war border shifting, was deep inside the Soviet occupation zone. In 1948, the AGRC provided a list of Americans whose remains were believed to be in Soviet territory to the Soviet government, but Teaff’s remains couldn’t be identified. The AGRC provided additional information on Teaff to the Soviets in 1950, but by September 1951, he could still not be found. He was declared non-recoverable on March 25, 1954.

After Lithuania became independent in 1992, the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs requested the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius look into Teaff’s case. They discovered the Soviet Union destroyed Stalag Luft 6 in 1955 and reverted the area to farmland. In 2006, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), a DPAA predecessor, and the Joint Commission Support Directorate investigated the site and recommended excavation. However, significant issues prevented them from sending a recovery team. Around this time, the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), also a DPAA predecessor, found several new sources of information pertaining to the case at the National Archives.

DPAA partnered with Ohio Valley Archeology, Inc. (OVAI) in 2019, and an OVAI team investigated the site that September, finding possible gravesites for the three missing Americans. A Lithuanian archeological group called Kulturos Vertybiu Globa (Guardianship of Cultural Values) was also active in the area and was planning an excavation of Polish and Lithuanian remains near Stalag Luft 6, so DPAA partnered with them to excavate the possible gravesites, which they did in August 2021. The remains found at the site were transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.

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

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

The date and location for Teaff’s funeral have yet to be determined.

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