Episode 140: Honored Return

 

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is the federal agency responsible for recovering the remains of previously missing in action service members and identifying them, and each year, DPAA strikes hundreds of names from the rolls of the missing.

To emphasize the importance of what DPAA does, this episode highlights four families who have received closure regarding their formerly MIA loved ones, and one family who received help from DPAA to get a cenotaph at Arlington for their Korea War MIA.

Army Private First Class Alfred Bordeau was captured on his first day in combat in the Korea War and subjected to many physical and mental hardships, and ultimately death, at the hands of his North Korean captors. DPAA helped his family get in touch with a POW who was held with Bordeau who was able to tell them about the brave things their loved one did while a captive to help others around him.

Some 70 years after his death, Bordeau's family celebrated his life and placed a cenotaph in his honor at Arlington in Memorial Section L, Site 88.

Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel Addison Baker was the commander of a bombardment squadron when his bomber was hit over Poland. Instead of returning to safety, he continued to pilot his plane to the target, leading his squadron's planes in the process, and successfully dropped his payload.

On the return leg of the mission, he was forced to drop out of formation and made a gallant effort to give his crew a chance to bail out. His bomber finally lost all power and he crashed behind German lines. He was awarded the medal of honor but his remains could not be recovered so his final disposition was unknown so his named was added to a wall of the missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Italy.

Thanks to many efforts by DPAA personnel, LTC Baker's remains were located, positively identified, and at the behest of his surviving family - several of whom are Addison in their hero uncle's honor - reinterred at Arlington in Section 78, Grave 403.

Navy Seaman First Class James Richard Ward was on the battleship USS Oklahoma when it was hit by multiple torpedoes and began to sink during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead of rushing out of the gun turret he was manning to escape, he led the rest of the crew to safety. Every member of the crew made it out except for S1 Ward who was awarded the medal of honor for all of the lives he saved.

Ward remained interred in the Oklahoma until that ship was refloated. His were one of dozens upon dozens of comingled remains recovered from the ship and buried in mixed graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His status as a medal of honor recipient also earned him a cenotaph at Punchbowl.

In 2015, DPAA began a special mission to disinter the comingled Oklahoma remains and identify each crew member still considered missing. Through these efforts, Ward's remains were identified and buried at Arlington in Section 81, Grave 1560 with many of his family members and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Chief of Naval Operations, in attendance.

Marine Corps Captain Ronald Forrester was killed when the A6A Intruder he was piloting was shot down over Vietnam.

A cenotaph was placed at Arlington in his honor and stood in the cemetery for nearly sixty years. Just imagine how shocked and pleasantly surprised Forrester's daughter - who had only knew for father for a short time as a child - was when she got a phone call telling her that DPAA had recovered and identified Forrester's remains. His funeral service was two weeks ago so his headstone has not been placed yet, but when it is, it was rise over his remains in Section 47, Grave 29.

Navy Radioman Third Class Starring Winfield was also lost when the USS Oklahoma sank at Pearl Harbor.

Like S1 Ward, Winfield's remains were comingled, placed in a group burial at Punchbowl, and later disinterred and identified as part of the 2015 special Oklahoma project. His family chose to move his remains to Arlington and they now rest in Section 55, Grave 2085.

Episode 139: The King of Swing, Part II

 

Because of  his age (he was 38) and needing glasses, Glenn Miller was unlikely to be drafted for military service, but like so many Americans of his day, he wanted to find some way to serve. Eventually the Army accepted him, commissioned him a captain, and put him in charge of all Army Air Forces bands.

After being stuck stateside for several months, Miller's desire to deploy overseas and perform for US troops became a reality when General Dwight Eisenhower personally requested Miller and his band come to England before the D-Day invasion.

In late-1944, Miller was promoted to major and received approval to move his headquarters from London to Paris following the liberation of that city. He flew to France on December 15, 1944 but his plane disappeared and he, his pilot, and his traveling companion were never seen again. They were all declared dead one year and one day later on December 16, 1945.

In 1944, at his daughter's request, a cenotaph was installed for Major Alton Glenn Miller at Arlington National Cemetery, in Memorial Section H, Grave 464-A. As far as I can tell, the trombone on the backside of his marker is unique to his headstone.

Before that time, his official memorial was his name engraved on "The Tablets of the Missing" at the Cambridge American Cemetery in Cambridge, England.

In Section 13 at Arlington, beneath an American Holly tree, is the memorial marker dedicated to the memory of Miller's Army Air Forces Orchestra.

Miller has a second cenotaph, this one installed by a fan who has no relation to Miller or his family, at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. 

Episode 138: The King of Swing, Part I

 

Glenn Miller was born in a small town in Iowa and decided early on that he wanted to be a professional musician. It took time and a lot of frustration for him to make his dream a reality but by 1938, thousands of dancers and millions of radio listeners knew and loved Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. In four and a half years they would feature in two Hollywood films, produce 121 singles, 69 Billboard charters, and 13 #1 hits before their band leader left to join the US Army Air Corps in World War II.

Episode 137: Sons of Hawaii, Part III

 

Senator Daniel K. Inouye served through the administrations of ten US presidents, including Ghost of Arlington, John F. Kennedy (above) and JFK's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson (below).

President Bill Clinton presented Inouye with the Medal of Honor when his Distinguished Service Cross, earned in World War II, was upgraded in 2000 (below).

Senator Inouye is one of only 38 people to lay in state in the US Capitol Building. Hundreds of people paid their respects, including life-long friend, fellow-wounded veteran, and senator Bob Dole (below).

After lying in state in Washington DC, he laid in state at the Hawaii Statehouse before being interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section D, Grave 391-A.

Episode 136: Sons of Hawaii, Part II

Danny Inouye wanted to be a doctor when he grew up - specifically, he wanted to be a surgeon. When he was a senior in high school he was a Red Cross volunteer. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor he saw the planes flying over Honolulu and rushed to an aid station where he treated civilians injured by falling anti-aircraft shells.

As soon as he could, Danny enlisted in the army and was sent to Italy with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The war shattered his dream of becoming a doctor but a fellow wounded veteran, Bob Dole (yes, that Bob Dole) told him of his plan to become a lawyer and a politician in Kansas. Danny liked the sound of that, returned to Hawaii and entered politics as well. Little did he know he would become arguably the most influential politician in the history of Hawaii, whether the Kingdom, the Republic, or the State.

Captain Inouye (front, far left) next to Captain Bob Dole (left, profile, card in left hand) and other wounded veterans in a rehabilitation hospital that would one day bear both Inouye and Dole's names.

Episode 135: Sons of Hawaii, Part I

 

Already an Army officer before Pearl Harbor, Spark Matsunaga was one of the 100th Infantry Battalion's junior officers when that unit was stood up. He had hoped that by volunteering for active duty in the pre-war military would prove his loyalty but he was treated with the same suspicion as all Nisei US citizens.

After the war, Matsunaga used his GI Bill to attend Harvard Law School. Upon graduation, he returned to Hawaii and in 1959 was elected to that state's first state legislature. In time, the electorate of Hawaii would send Matsunaga to Washington, DC. First as a member of the US House of Representatives and then as a US Senator.

Matsunaga was well respected by members of both his own Democrat party as well as the opposition Republicans, including President Ronald Reagan (left).

US Senator and Army Lieutenant Colonel Spark Masayuki Matsunaga died on April 15, 1990, at age 73. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section V, Grave 334-B under the epitaph "Beloved Son of Hawaii."

Episode 134: Tales from Punchbowl, Part VII

 

Army Brigadier General Francis Shigeo Takemoto was the first Japanese American general officer in the US military. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Hawaii National Guard by Hawaii Governor in January 1964. In February 1964 he was nominated by President Lyndon Johnson to be promoted to brigadier general in the US Army Reserves. That nomination was confirmed by the full US Senate two weeks later.

Brigadier General Takemoto passed away on May 26, 2002; he was 89 years old. His ashes were installed at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Columbarium Court 3, Row 300, niche 304.

Army Captain Allan Masaharu Ohata was a quiet achieve who went above and beyond the call of duty but did not like to ask others for help and almost never spoke of the war once he returned from Europe. Many of his closest friends who met him after the war had no idea he was a veteran until he passed away.

Captain Ohata passed away on October 17, 1977 after a battle with cancer; he was 59 years old. He was interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section III, Grave 474.