Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: StarOfAfrica2 on December 16, 2005, 02:37:33 AM
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NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense
No. 1294-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec 14, 2005
Navy Seaman MIA from World War II is Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and returned to his family for burial tomorrow with full military honors.
Seaman 2nd Class Dee Hall, of Syra, Okla. He is to be buried at the
Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.
Hall was one of seven crewmen aboard a U.S. Navy PBY-5 Catalina that
took off from Kodiak Island, Alaska on June 14, 1942, to attack Japanese targets in
Kiska Harbor, Alaska.
The crew encountered inclement weather and heavy Japanese anti-aircraft
fire near the target. Their plane crashed on the Japanese-held Kiska Island,
Alaska with all seven crewmen on board.
In August 1943, the United States retook Kiska Island from the
Japanese. Wreckage of the PBY-5 was found on the side of Kiska volcano. The
remains of the crew were buried in a common grave marked "Seven U.S.N. Airmen" with a wooden marker. Following the war, attempts to locate the common grave were unsuccessful and the remains of all seven were declared to be non-recoverable.
In 2002, a wildlife biologist notified DPMO that he had found the
wreckage of a World War II aircraft on the slope of Kiska volcano. Using that
information, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated the crash site in August 2003 and found debris from the PBY-5 as well as crew-related items. The JPAC team also located the wooden marker as well as the remains buried nearby. Subsequent JPAC laboratory analysis led to the individual identification of all seven crewmembers.
Of the 88,000 unaccounted-for Americans from all conflicts, 78,000 are
from World War II. For additional information visit the DPMO Web site at
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo.
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Welcome Home, Boys. That was a long mission.
to the Navy for following through.
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Welcome home Navy
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Welcome home =S=
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And thanks to the Biologist who had the presence of mind to notify the DPMO!
- SEAGOON
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That sailor waited a long time to come home for Christmas. I'm glad he made it this year.
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Wow, that is amazing. There are still 78,000 missing in action from a war that happened 60 years ago? That is crazy.
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I remember a few years ago someone was redoing a foundation or something of the sort in France and they found the remains of a soldier from WWII. It happens. Planes went down in lakes or over oceans, men were lost in jungles or blown to bits on deserted islands in the middle of the Pacific, buried in the rubble of buildings, etc.