On Memorial Day, Americans honor those who sacrificed their lives for our country. Many of the families of those missing in action have not had the full opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency is working to change that.
“It’s really the fulfillment of a promise made to the service members that we sent into combat and didn’t come home,” said Kelly McKeague, the agency’s director.
AMERICAN HEROES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR ADOPTED IN THE ‘MARGRATEN ROSES’ PROJECT BY THE ‘GRATEFUL’ DUTCH
Second Lieutenant Fred Brewer
More than 2.2 million airmen served in World War II, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Of those, 355 were Tuskegee Airmen who served overseas.
“It’s a historic unit, a segregated unit that did heroic things in World War II,” McKeague said.
Second Lieutenant Fred Brewer was one of 27 Tuskegee Airmen previously thought to be missing in action. The 23-year-old was the second from the unit to be identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
The remains of Second Lieutenant Fred Brewer, who reportedly went missing in Italy, have been positively identified. Brewer recently received a fitting burial in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency/American Air Museum)
In October 1944, Brewer had departed Ramitelli Air Base in Italy along with 57 other fighters assigned to escort the bombers to Regensburg, Germany. Brewer had attempted to climb above a thick layer of cloud when his engine stalled. He was thought to have crashed near Moggio Udinese, Italy. The story of what happened after the accident would not begin to come together until more than 70 years later.
“It happened almost by chance. It happened because an Italian villager took remains of his plane in the 1940s, built a monument that one of our historians correlated with a set of remains that were moved from a German cemetery to an Italian cemetery, and finally to an American cemetery, where we unearthed the unknown remains of Lt. Brewer,” McKeague said.
MASSACHUSETTS SAILOR KILLED IN PEARL HARBOR FINALLY RECEIVES A PROPER BURIAL AT ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
In December, Brewer received a proper burial and was buried in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.
“These are cases that couldn’t be solved after the wars. And that’s why here we are with our historians, our scientists, searching, finding and then, hopefully, identifying,” McKeague said.
The Moggese Historical Photographic Archive in Italy says a ceremony in Brewer’s honor will be held in October, near the Italian town where he died.
“It’s our ability to use historical references and research scientific technologies to hopefully put a name and a face to a set of remains and return them to their family,” McKeague said.
Army corporal. Luther’s History
This past Memorial Day, a funeral was held for the Korean Medal of Honor recipient Army soldier. Luther Story after the agency identified his remains. In the late 1950s, at only 19 years old, Story gave his life defending himself from enemy soldiers so that his companions could escape.
Luther Story, who gave his life fending off enemy soldiers so his comrades could escape, received a fitting funeral this past Memorial Day. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency/DVIDS)
“During the retreat, the company was attacked by such superior numbers that it was forced to deploy into a rice field,” Story’s Medal of Honor inscription reads. “Realizing that his wounds would hamper his comrades, he refused to retreat to the next position, but remained to cover the company’s retreat. He was last seen firing all available weapons and fighting off another hostile assault “.
Story was just 16 years old when he enlisted in the army; He convinced his mother to falsify his documents.
“At 19 years old, he does that bravery, that heroic action, thus allowing his unit to escape to safety,” McKeague said.
Story was born in Georgia to sharecroppers who worked on several farms in the middle part of the state. One of the farms they worked on belonged to former President Carter’s father.
AMERICAN HEROES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR ADOPTED IN THE ‘MARGRATEN ROSES’ PROJECT BY THE ‘GRATEFUL’ DUTCH
Carter had begun receiving hospice care when Story was identified in April 2023 and told that Story would return to the US.
“When he was told Luther Story was coming home, he just smiled and said, ‘I remember that young man,'” McKeague said.
Active wars make it difficult to immediately identify those killed in combat. As conflicts subside, researchers must analyze environmental factors and foreign governments.
“Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are very challenging. The acidic soil degrades the remains, almost destroying them, and many times our teams only find teeth,” McKeague said.
AMERICAN HEROES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR ADOPTED IN THE ‘MARGRATEN ROSES’ PROJECT BY THE ‘GRATEFUL’ DUTCH
Air Force Colonel Ernest De Soto
Air Force Col. Ernest De Soto, 37, flew an F-4D Phantom II during the Vietnam War.
Air Force Colonel Ernest De Soto was finally located in March 2023 after his plane went missing during the Vietnam War. (Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund/DVIDS)
“He was born in San Francisco. He was a phenomenal athlete, he had a partial scholarship to Stanford. His parents couldn’t afford Stanford, so he enlisted in the Air Force,” McKeague said. “[He] “He qualifies to go to pilot training, becomes a fighter pilot, and finds himself in Vietnam.”
He was last seen in 1969. His aircraft disappeared while returning from a canceled attack mission near Quang Nam Province. His unit’s lead aircraft noticed that De Soto was nowhere to be seen and immediately began an unsuccessful aerial search. . Teams were unable to search the terrain due to ongoing fighting.
In 1995, a joint field activities team located the accident site in Giang District. Investigations at the site continued into 2020. After a recovery mission and further DNA testing, De Soto was finally accounted for in March 2023.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“In the case of Colonel De Soto, we had to continue to send teams to investigate the site or excavate the site,” McKeague said. “Especially because these aircraft losses often go off the radar, no one knows the last known location. So, in some cases, it really is almost a roll of the dice.”
There are still 72,000 soldiers missing from World War II, 7,500 from Korea and 1,500 from Vietnam. Of those 81,000, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency believes 38,000 will be recoverable.
“Each one has a unique story,” McKeague said. “Whether it’s Lieutenant Brewer, Corporal Story or the Colonel De Soto case.”
