Press Release | March 19, 2020

Pilot Accounted For From World War II (Roth, E.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Ernest L. Roth, 20, of Los Angeles, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Feb. 4, 2020.

In May 1944, Roth was assigned as a pilot with the 359th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force in Europe. On May 19, he was piloting a B-17G bomber while on a bombing run over Berlin when the plane was hit by flak and crashed. Six of the 10 crewmembers, including Roth, were killed in the incident. They were recovered by German forces and reportedly buried in the Döberitz cemetery.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing Americans. The AGRC did not find Roth in the grave in which he was reportedly buried, but instead recovered two other American service members whose plane had gone down on the same day. They did find a set of unknown remains designated X-4801 Neuville in a grave nearby that was thought to either be Roth or one other American. However, the AGRC was unable to determine which person it definitively was, and so concluded X-4801 Neuville was unidentifiable.

In 2016, DPAA historians began focused research on eight sets of unknown remains recovered from Döberitz. One historian reconstructed the cemetery plot map with data from several sources, and concluded there were four possible casualties that could be associated with X-4801 Neuville. In June 2018, the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) exhumed X-4801 and transferred the remains to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

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

Roth’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an ABMC site in Hombourg, Belgium, along with others who are still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Roth will be buried in his hometown. The date has yet to be determined.

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

DPAA is grateful to ABMC for their partnership in this mission.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Press Release | March 18, 2020

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Tranbarger, O.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Seaman 1st Class Orval A. Tranbarger, 20, of Mountain View, Missouri, killed during World War II, was accounted for Sept. 18, 2019.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Tranbarger 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 Tranbarger.

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

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

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

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

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

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

DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of the Navy for their partnership in this mission.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Press Release | March 16, 2020

Marine Accounted for from World War II (Morris, J.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jerome B. Morris, 22, of East St. Louis, Illinois, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Sept. 27, 2019.

In November 1943, Morris was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 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. Morris was killed on the third day of the battle, Nov. 22, 1943. His remains were reportedly buried in East Division Cemetery, later renamed Cemetery 33, on Betio Island.

In 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa at Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation; however, almost half of the known casualties were never found. No recovered remains could be associated with Morris, and in October 1949, a Board of Review declared him “non-recoverable.”

In 2009, History Flight, Inc., a nonprofit organization, located Cemetery 33. Excavations of the site over the past 10 years have uncovered multiple sets of remains. In mid-2019, a set of remains later identified to be Morris was recovered and turned over to DPAA for possible identification.

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

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

Morris will be buried in Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. The date has yet to be determined.

For family and funeral information, contact the Marine Corps Casualty Office at (800) 847-1597.

DPAA is grateful to the United States Marine Corps for their assistance in this mission. Additionally, DPAA is appreciative to History Flight, Inc., for their partnership in this mission.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Press Release | March 11, 2020

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Walker, K.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Sgt. Kenneth E. Walker, 19, of Madill, Oklahoma, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Nov. 12, 2019.

In late 1950, Walker was a member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action Dec. 2, 1950, in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, after his unit was attacked by enemy forces. His remains could not be recovered following the battle. After the war, no returned prisoners of war reported seeing him in any camps.

On July 27, 2018, following the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018, North Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War. The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for identification.

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

Walker’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, 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.

Walker will be buried April 18, 2020, in his hometown.

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

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Press Release | March 3, 2020

Soldier Accounted For From World War II (Cansler, J.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. James J. Cansler, 21, of Bolivar, Missouri, killed during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 29, 2020.

In December 1944, Cansler was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Vossenack, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was reported as missing in action on Dec. 19. A year later, Army officials had received no evidence he had been captured or otherwise survived combat, and so released a presumptive finding of death.

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 Cansler’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable in 1951.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-2505 Neuville, recovered from a minefield north of Vossenack in 1946 possibly belonged to Cansler. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in June 2018 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.

To identify Cansler’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) analysis.

Cansler’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.

Cansler will be buried July 7, 2021, in Springfield, Missouri.

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

DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and to the U.S. Army Regional Mortuary-Europe/Africa for their partnership in this mission.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.