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U.S. and Indian Officials Discuss WWII Recovery Missions

Wednesday 19 March 2008 at 10:01

by NC Sentinel

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11768
Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132		 Public contact:
http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html
or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 0220-08
March 19, 2008
U.S. and Indian Officials Discuss WWII Recovery Missions

Officials of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) met today with representatives of the Indian government in New Delhi to lay the groundwork for future U.S.-Indian humanitarian operations in Arunachal Pradesh State.
 
During the meeting, the officials discussed a tentative timeline for future investigations and recoveries of aircraft crash sites associated with missing U.S. servicemen from World War II. In addition, they discussed cooperation in the areas of team security, medical support, logistical requirements and transportation.
 
JPAC officials will return to the region in the spring to discuss details of future operations with Ministry of Defense and Arunachal Pradesh officials. This will be followed by site visits in early fall to determine the scope of debris fields and evaluate unique logistical requirements associated with each site. This process sets the groundwork for future recovery teams by clearly defining the work that will be required to properly and efficiently excavate known aircraft crash locations.
 
The first full excavation mission should begin shortly after these site visits and is scheduled to be finished by the end of the year.
 
“This meeting is a significant step in a partnership that will enable our teams to go into areas where we hope to find remains of missing American service members,” said Rear Adm. Donna Crisp, JPAC commander.
 
“We look forward to developing closer ties and stronger working relationships with our Indian counterparts as we work together to accomplish this humanitarian mission.”
 
There are more than 1,300 individuals missing from loss incidents - primarily aircraft crashes - in the region known as “the Hump” or the “China-Burma-India” theatre of operations in WWII. While it is impossible to say with certainty in which country a specific plane was lost, JPAC analysts estimate more than 400 Americans are unaccounted-for in this region.
 
For additional information on this mission in India, call JPAC at (808) 448-1938, or the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office at (703) 699-1420.

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AIRMAN LOST IN 1942 CRASH IS IDENTIFIED

Wednesday 5 March 2008 at 09:32

by NC Sentinel

March 5, 2008
AIRMAN LOST IN 1942 CRASH IS IDENTIFIED

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. Army Air Forces airman, missing since 1942, have been identified and will soon be returned to his family for burial.

He is Aviation Cadet Ernest G. Munn, U.S. Army Air Forces, of St. Clairsville, Ohio.  He will be buried in May in Cole Rain, Ohio.

Representatives from the Army met with Munn’s next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

Munn was one of four men aboard a routine navigation training flight that departed Mather Field, Calif., on Nov. 18, 1942.  Their AT-7 Navigator aircraft carried about five hours of fuel, and when the plane did not return to base, a search was initiated.  It was suspended about a month later with no results.

In 1947, several hikers on Darwin Glacier in the Sierra Nevada mountain range discovered the aircraft wreckage.  Human remains found at the site were buried in the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, Calif.

Several other hikers on Mendel Glacier, which is adjacent to Darwin Glacier, discovered frozen human remains, circumstantial evidence and personal effects in October 2005.  Park rangers from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and a forensic anthropologist from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) recovered the remains, which were later shipped to the JPAC laboratory in Hawaii and identified as Cadet Leo M. Mustonen.

In 2007, two other hikers on the Mendel Glacier found human remains of a second individual near the 2005 discovery site.  Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of Munn’s 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.

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U.S. and China Sign POW and MIA Arrangement

Friday 29 February 2008 at 07:43

by NC Sentinel

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11729
Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132		 Public contact:
http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html
or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 170-08
February 29, 2008
U.S. and China Sign POW and MIA Arrangement

            U.S. and Chinese officials signed a document Friday morning in Shanghai, China to formalize research in Chinese archives on Korean War POW/MIA matters. 
 
            Ambassador Charles A. Ray, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, signed the arrangement with Maj. Gen. Qian Li Hua, of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.
 
            The arrangement outlines expected cooperation between the U.S. and China in researching the archives, which may shed light on Americans who were missing in action or held as prisoners of war in camps managed by the Chinese.
 
            In seeking to account for the approximately 8,100 servicemen missing from the Korean War, the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office has sought access to these archives for more than a decade.
 
            The cooperation of the Chinese people and government has led to the recovery of the remains of Americans lost in the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Korean War and World War II. This joint archival effort is expected to open more avenues of research to enable U.S. analysts to narrow their searches for the specific locations where American remains may be buried.
 
            The signing ceremony took place in the same Shanghai hotel where President Richard Nixon and Premier Cho En-lai signed their historic communiqué in 1972.
 
            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) 699-1420 or (703) 509-1905.

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Missing WWII Airmen Are Identified

Friday 15 February 2008 at 14:42

by NC Sentinel

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11696
Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132		 Public contact:
http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html
or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 132-08
February 15, 2008
Missing WWII Airmen Are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of three U.S. servicemen, missing from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors. 
 
They are 2nd Lt. John F. Lubben, of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.; Sgt. Albert A. Forgue, of North Providence, R.I.; and Sgt. Charles L. Spiegel, of Chicago, Ill.; all U.S. Army Air Forces. They will be buried on April 18 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
 
Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men in their hometowns to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.
 
On Dec. 12, 1944, these men crewed an A-20J Havoc aircraft departing from Coullomiers, France, to bomb enemy targets near Wollseifen, Germany. The aircraft was last seen entering a steep dive near Cologne, Germany. Several searches and investigations of this area and reviews of wartime documents failed to provide information concerning the incident.
 
In 1975, a German company clearing wartime mines and unexploded ordnance near Simmerath, Germany, reported the discovery of a gravesite northeast of Simmerath where American servicemembers were buried. U.S. officials evaluated the remains and determined they represented three individuals, but they could not make identifications at that time. The remains were subsequently buried as unknowns in the Ardennes American Military Cemetery in Neupre, Belgium.
 
In 2003, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) was notified that a group of German citizens had information correlating the three servicemembers who were buried as unknowns with the crew from the 1944 A-20J crash. Based on that information, JPAC exhumed the three unknown graves from the Ardennes American Military Cemetery in 2005.
 
Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA 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.

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DPMO - Progress in Vietnam - 1 FEB 08

Thursday 14 February 2008 at 16:01

by NC Sentinel

Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office
Progress in Vietnam as of February 1, 2008
Current Status of Unaccounted-for Americans Lost in the Vietnam War

Vietnam Laos Cambodia China Total
Original Missing 1,980 572 84 10 2,646
Repatriated and Identified 627 224 29 3 8831
Remaining Missing 1,252 348 55 7 1,763

Of the remaining 1,353 Americans still unaccounted for in the country of Vietnam, 602 are in a “no further pursuit” status, meaning that as a result of rigorous investigation we have conclusive evidence the individual perished, but do not believe it possible to recover his remains.

Repatriating and Identifying Remains

• Prior to Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07), the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) conducted four Joint Field Activities (JFAs) per year in Vietnam for approximately 30 days each. Beginning in FY07, we began executing three JFAs per year each lasting approximately 45 days. This refinement allows improved operational effectiveness,
increases workable days on-site, and provides greater flexibility during good weather windows.
• Each JFA involves approximately 95 U.S. personnel plus their Vietnamese counterparts. Together, they work on investigations and excavations throughout the country.
• American remains are transferred to JPAC’s Central Identification Lab in Hawaii for positive identification by forensic anthropologists.
• The 90th JFA began October 19 and continued through December 2, 2007. Recovery teams excavated sites in Tuyen Quang, Lao Cai, Lang Son, Son La, and Bac Giang Provinces.
• The 91st JFA is scheduled to begin March 1 and continue through April 14, 2008. Recovery teams are planning to excavate sites in Thanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Thua Thien-Hue, Lang Son, and Quang Binh Provinces.

Resolving “Last Known Alive” Cases

• Of the original 196 individuals “Last Known Alive” in Vietnam (those who might have survived their loss incidents, but did not return), DoD has determined the fate of 165, with 31 still unresolved.
• Of the 165 whose fate has been determined, the remains of 49 have been located and identified.
• Cambodia, Vietnam, and U.S. technical experts met in Hanoi in November 2004 to discuss Last Known Alive cases along the Cambodia – Vietnam border. A meeting with Laos, Vietnam, and U.S. technical experts to discuss Last Known Alive cases along the Laos – Vietnam border took place in Vientiane in April 2005. We continue to pursue leads generated from the meetings.

Research and Investigations

• The U.S. recently completed an archival research program in Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defense. The results, while less than hoped for, confirmed that additional information is contained in Vietnamese archives. A DPMO team met with Vietnamese representatives in September and reached agreement on a follow-on program to gain access to information in the archives.
• In addition to the interviews conducted during JFAs, U.S. and Vietnamese investigators have conducted nearly 300 oral history interviews of Vietnamese government and military officials, including General Vo Nguyen Giap.
• Since Vietnamese troops occupied portions of Cambodia and Laos during the War, we’ve asked them to cooperate in investigations there. Approximately 93 Vietnamese witnesses have participated in operations in Laos (79) and Cambodia (14); most of them have participated more than once.

- - - - - - - - - -

1This number now includes the 63 Americans who were returned and/or identified from 1973 – 1975.

Published by the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense/Global Security Affairs
Washington, DC 20301-2900
(703) 699-1100

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