Seven Missing WWII Airmen Identified

[Mgawa]

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of seven servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Army Capt. Joseph M. Olbinski, Chicago; 1st Lt. Joseph J. Auld, Floral Park, N.Y.; 1st Lt. Robert M. Anderson, Millen, Ga.; Tech. Sgt. Clarence E. Frantz, Tyrone, Penn.; Pfc. Richard M. Dawson, Haynesville, Va.; Pvt. Robert L. Crane, Sacramento, Calif.; and Pvt. Fred G. Fagan, Piedmont, Ala., were identified and all are to be interred July 15 in Arlington National Cemetery.

On May 23, 1944, the men were aboard a C-47A Skytrain that departed Dinjan, India, on an airdrop mission to resupply Allied forces near Myitkyina, Burma. When the crew failed to return, air and ground searches found no evidence of the aircraft along the intended flight path.

In late 2002, a missionary provided U.S. officials a data plate from a C-47 crash site approximately 31 miles northwest of Myitkyina. In 2003, a Burmese citizen turned over human remains and identification tags for three of the crew members.

A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team excavated the crash site in 2003 and 2004, recovering additional remains and crew-related equipment—including an identification tag for Dawson.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of some of the crewmembers' families – as well as dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169.

[Pat Carry]

These kind of stories are always interesting. I wonder whats being done to bring back the 100 or so Marines that were killed on Tarawa and were found recently to be still buried there in unmarked and previously forgotten graves.

[Shay]

I'm glad a numerous and steady flow of stories like these are coming to light. 72,000 U.S. families are still waiting for a story like this to be written for them. Recently I read a story about soldiers still being found on WW1 battlefields.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Rick65]

Going sideways with this one I read recently that somethink like 50% of the Japanese soldiers that left the country and never returned have unidentified grave locations.
Having read some descriptions of the Japanese army in retreat I am inclined to believe this. If you want a different perspective read the Bone Man of Kokoda by Charles Happell a book about a Japanese soldier that survived the Kokoda Track and returned to find the bodies of those that didn't - most of them.

[Mgawa]

Thank you for your comments. Shay, I put some WW1 info on another forum:

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/other ... ified.html

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/other ... ified.html

In future I will put them here if you more prefer.

Cheers

[kmiles]

This story made the front page of my home town newspaper The Daily Herald in Tyrone, PA in early July. Tyrone is a town of less than 6,000 people, so everyone was glad that one of their own was able to be identified and returned to the family. I am glad that there are people out there that are still looking for our servicemen from past wars.

[andyman64]

the japanese put no stock in lost soldiers the have already gone to heaven and served the father land they put no stock in human life during the war why do it after? not an insult just an observation, different culture different mind set!!!!!