Press Release | Dec. 20, 2024

Airman Accounted For From World War II (Bradbury, G.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. George F. Bradbury, 22, killed during World War II, was accounted for Dec. 19, 2024.

In the fall of 1943, Bradbury served as the navigator aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber with 858th Bombardment Squadron, 492nd Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force. The unit was engaged in Operation CARPETBAGGER, a series of secret missions in which several specially designated bomb groups dropped supplies, arms, equipment, leaflets, and U.S. Office of Strategic Services and French agents to resistance groups operating in northern France. On Sept. 16, 1944, Bradbury’s crew was scheduled to fly its final mission to drop supplies to resistance forces 40 miles east of the Moselle River. 115th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion, an American artillery unit stationed near Lebeuville, France, mistook Bradbury’s B-24 for an enemy aircraft and opened fire upon it, killing six of the eight crew members onboard, including Bradbury.

This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Bradbury’s case will be published once the family receives their full briefing.

Press Release | Dec. 19, 2024

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Grace, L.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Master Sgt. Luther Grace, 34, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Dec. 18, 2024.

In July 1950, Grace was a member of Heavy Mortar Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 30 while in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea after the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. There was no evidence that he was held as a prisoner of war. A finding of death was issued for Grace in December 1956.

This is an initial ID Announcement. The complete accounting of Grace’s case will be published once the family receives their full briefing.

Press Release | Dec. 18, 2024

Airman Accounted For From World War II (Bruntmyer, L.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Force Tech4 Lloyd R. Bruntmyer, 22, of Des Moines, Iowa, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for Aug. 23, 2024.

Bruntmyer’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.

In late 1941, Bruntmyer was a member of 7th Materiel Squadron, 5th Air Base Group, 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. Bruntmyer 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 #1. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.

According to prison camp and other historical records, Bruntmyer died Nov. 1, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 704.

Following the war, American Graves Registration Service 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. Two of the sets of remains from Common Grave 704 were identified, while the remaining 8 were declared unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as Unknowns.

In 2018, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, DPAA exhumed the remains associated with Common Grave 704 and sent them to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.          

To identify Bruntmyer’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, mitochondrial genome sequence, and Y chromosome DNA analysis.

Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Bruntmyer’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Today, Bruntmyer is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Bruntmyer will be buried in San Diego, California, in Nov. 2025.

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

Press Release | Dec. 18, 2024

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Bowman, J.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Pfc. James C. Bowman, 20, of Jordan, West Virginia, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Sept. 25, 2024.

Bowman’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.

In the winter of 1950, Bowman was assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 28 after his unit was attacked by Chinese People’s Volunteer Army as the 31st Regimental Combat Team withdrew from Pungnyri Inlet of the Chosin Reservoir to Hagaru-ri, North Korea.

In September and October 1954, during Operation Glory, Chinese Communist Forces turned over remains to the United Nations Command, including one set, designated Unknown X-15647. These remains were reportedly recovered from the east side of the Chosin Reservoir, but could not be positivity identified as any unaccounted-for Soldier. Unknown X-15647 was subsequently buried as an Unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, also known as the Punchbowl.

In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In March 2021, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-1564 as part of Phase Three of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

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

Bowman’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.

Bowman will be buried in Fairmont, West Virginia, on a date yet to be determined.

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