The US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency aims to provide the fullest possible accounting for US missing military servicemen to their families and the nation.
The Agency works to identify the remains of personnel reported as missing in action and below you can find details of some of their recent discoveries. As of the end of May 2023, the US Defense Accounting agency successfully identified another 11 US soldiers.
Soldier Accounted For From World War II (Gruwell, R.)
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Pvt. Robert R. Gruwell, 20, of Los Angeles, California, killed during World War II, was accounted for Sept. 12, 2022.
In the summer of 1944, Gruwell was assigned to Company G, 3rd Battalion, 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team. On Aug. 15, Gruwell’s unit was part of Operation DRAGOON, the invasion of southern France to secure ports along France’s Mediterranean coast.
Specifically, their orders were to prevent German troops from moving to the invasion beaches to fight back against the sea landings and to secure the area around LeMuy. Gruwell’s unit landed near Callian early in the morning, and he went missing sometime that day between Callian and LeMuy. He was never reported as a prisoner of war and no recovered remains were ever identified as him. On May 15, 1945, Gruwell’s status was changed to killed in action.
On Aug. 23, 1944, a team from the 11th U.S. Evacuation Hospital interred a set of remains designated X-23 Draguignan in what is now known as Rhône American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery in Draguignan, France. X-23 is believed to have died around Aug. 16 and was so badly burnt that he was unable to be identified.
DPAA historians continue to conduct research on those missing from Operation DRAGOON. Their analysis of X-23’s file led them to them to associate those remains as possibly belonging to three Soldiers, one of whom was Gruwell. X-23 was disinterred in February 2020 and sent to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.
To identify Gruwell’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 (mtDNA) analysis.
USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Allen, S.)
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that Naval Reserve Ensign Stanley W. Allen, 25, of Brunswick, Maine, killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 14, 2021.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Allen 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 Allen.
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 (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Allen.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Allen’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.
Pilot Accounted For From World War II (Litherland, J.)
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. James Litherland, 25, of South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted for March 16, 2023.
In February of 1944, Litherland was assigned to the 359th Squadron, 303rd Bombardment Group (Heavy). On February 28, Litherland was co-piloting a B-17F Flying Fortress that was struck by anti-aircraft fire after a bombing raid on a German V-2 rocket site in Bois-Coquerel, France.
Before the plane crashed near the city of Le Translay, France three of the airmen parachuted successfully while the other seven crew members, including Litherland, were still on board.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In March 1947 AGRC investigators identified X-452 as being associated with Litherland but were unable to identify him and X-452 was transferred to Suresnes American Cemetery, France. Litherland was declared non-recoverable Dec. 26, 1950.
In September 2017, a DPAA Investigation Team traveled to Le Translay to locate Litherland’s crash site; in August 2018, a DPAA Recovery Team recovered material evidence and osseous remains from the site, which the DPAA laboratory accessioned for analysis. In October 2019, the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission exhumed the unknown remains designated X-452 St. Andre, believed to be associated with Litherland, from Suresnes American Cemetery.
To identify Litherland’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and autosomal DNA (auSTR), analysis.
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- Soldiers identified May 2023: DPAA
