Until They Are Home
If you want on or off my MIA/POW Ping List, please FReep Mail or Ping me.
Posted on 01/26/2009 10:07:11 AM PST by Stonewall Jackson
Jan. 22, 2009
MISSING WWII SOLDIERS ARE IDENTIFIED
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two 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 Pfc. Julian H. Rogers, of Bloomington, Ind, and Pvt. Henry E. Marquez, of Kansas City, Kan. Both men were U.S. Army. Rogers will be buried in the Spring in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., and Marquez will be buried on May 30 in Kansas City, Mo.
Representatives from the Army’s Mortuary Office 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.
In November 1944, the 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, was attacking east through the Hürtgen Forest in an attempt to capture the German towns of Vossenack and Schmidt. On Nov. 4, the Germans counterattacked in what would become one of the longest running battles in U.S. history. Rogers and Marquez, both members of G Company, 112th Infantry Regiment, were reported killed in action near Vossenack on Nov. 4. Their bodies were not recovered.
In 2007, a German citizen searching for wartime relics in the Hürtgen Forest uncovered human remains and military identification tags for Rogers and Marquez. He notified U.S. officials and a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the site later that year. The team recovered human remains and non-biological material.
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.
Thank you PFC Julian Rogers and Pvt Henry Marquez for your sacrifice and may you rest in peace.
Until They Are Home
If you want on or off my MIA/POW Ping List, please FReep Mail or Ping me.
Very good. Welcome home men.
It was a given, but thanks to these men for the (their) ultimate sacrifice.
And thank you to the only nation on earth that cares enough about her troops to fund, search, transport, identify and honor those lost in her service until they are all returned home.
The identification unit recently identified a WWI soldier too.
BTTT
Everytime I read reports like this, it makes me tear up inside. We owe so much to that generation, yet because it happened so long ago, much of it is either a hazy memory or just another page in a history book.
God bless these warriors. I hope they have joined God in paradise.
Hertgan Forest. A big waste. Stupid. Along with pushing back the Bulge, instead of pinching it off. Maybe 15,000 dead American. Along with Iwo Jima, Peleliu, both basically unused islands after their conquering. Another 10-13,000 dead Americans.
Also the Italian Campaign.
|
|
|||
Gods |
Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
|
Thanks Stonewall J.
I have been to Vossenack, Schmidt, and the Kall Trail. When you get off the beaten path, its not hard to imagine that you might find remains. Fighting positions, shell casings, and other battlefield debris litter the surface of the ground, or lie very close to the surface. Lots of good men died there.
BTTT
2200+ B-29's, with 25000 men aboard, recovered at Iwo on their way back to the Marianas, rather than going into the water.
Hardly a waste.
“..Along with Iwo Jima, Peleliu, both basically unused islands..”
That’s what I’ve heard about Peleliu, but wasn’t Iwo used as an emergency air base were a significant number of damaged aircraft landed? My grandfather was a Navy See Bee on Iwo Jima, but he never talked about it. By the time I grew up enough to be interested and ask questions, he had a stroke which gave him serious alzheimer type symptoms and died 3 years after that.
Not to sound critical, it is good that these heroes come home, but I hope that the government is providing some funds for the burials. I imagine that in some cases, none of the serviceman’s immediate family are still alive. Leaving an elderly brother or sister or grandchild or great niece or nephew to deal with the remains could be a significant financial strain for them.
"...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. "
RIP Pfc Julian H Rogers
Pvt Henry E Marquez
Yes, ETO was a quagmire. No WMDs found and they never attacked us. After all we are still there 60 years on.
Hand Salute.........................two
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
*************