After a 12-year investigation spurred by a family member’s curiosity, the remains of four crew members from the B-24 bomber Heaven Can Wait, shot down in 1944, have been recovered from the Pacific Ocean floor. A collaborative effort involving family research, Project Recover, and a DPAA deep-sea recovery mission led to the identification and repatriation of the remains. Staff Sergeant Eugene Darrigan and Second Lieutenant Thomas Kelly have already received military burials, while the burials of First Lieutenant Herbert Tennyson and Second Lieutenant Donald Sheppick will follow in the coming months. This remarkable undertaking brings closure to families who waited over eight decades for the return of their loved ones.
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After 84 years, the remains of U.S. Navy Mess Attendant 3rd Class Neil D. Frye, killed during the Pearl Harbor attack, were identified and returned to his family. His sister, Mary Frye McCrimmon, 87, laid him to rest with full military honors on what would have been his 104th birthday. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency used DNA and anthropological analysis to confirm his identity after years of searching by his family. Frye’s remains were recovered from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and his name will now be marked with a rosette on the Walls of the Missing.
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U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Glenn H. Hodak, a B-29 gunner shot down over Tokyo in March 1945, has been accounted for after being identified among remains from the Tokyo Military Prison. Captured after his plane crashed, Hodak perished in a massive fire that destroyed the prison in late May 1945. His remains, initially buried in a mass grave and later interred as Unknown at Manila American Cemetery, were identified through a combination of dental, anthropological analysis, and DNA sequencing as part of the DPAA’s Tokyo Prison Fire Project. Hodak will receive a burial in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania.
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After a decades-long investigation, the remains of U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Donald W. Downing, missing since a 1967 Vietnam War mission, have been identified. A recovery team located wreckage and possible human remains in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam, in Spring 2024. DPAA scientists utilized anthropological analysis, DNA testing, and circumstantial evidence to confirm the identity. Lt. Col. Downing will receive full military honors, including a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, and a rosette will be added to his name on the Courts of the Missing.
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John Q. Hosedrinker