by Elizabeth Fraser | Jun 26, 2019 | Air Force Chaplain, Army Chaplain, DVIDS Chaplain, Marine Corps Chaplain
U.S. Army Chaplain (Capt.) Marta Conway speaks during military funeral honors for U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Howard T. Lurcott in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, June 26, 2019. Killed during World War II, Lurcott was accounted for on Jan. 28, 2019 and was buried 75 years after he went missing.
From the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency:
On Jan. 21, 1944, Lurcott was a member of the 38th Bombardment Squadron, 30th Bombardment Group, stationed at Hawkins Field, Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, when the B-24J bomber aircraft he was piloting crashed into Tarawa lagoon shortly after takeoff. Lurcott and the nine other servicemen aboard the aircraft were killed.
Rescue crews recovered the remains of five individuals, however Lurcott was not among those recovered. The three identified sets of remains and two unidentified sets were reportedly interred in Cemetery No. 33 on Betio Island, one of several cemeteries established on the island after the U.S. seized the island from the Japanese in November 1943.
Following the war, the U.S. Army’s 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947. Using U.S. Marine Corps records, they began the task of consolidating all the remains from isolated burial sites into a single cemetery called Lone Palm Cemetery. The remains of the B-24J crew were believed to be among those moved, however Lurcott’s remains were not identified and he was declared non-recoverable.
Throughout 1949, 94 sets of unidentified Tarawa remains were interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, known as the Punchbowl.
On Jan. 23, 2017, DPAA disinterred “Tarawa Unknown X-15 from the Punchbowl” and send the remains to the laboratory. Later in 2017, History Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization, through a partnership with DPAA, uncovered a series of coffin burials from Cemetery #33, which were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for analysis. The remains were consolidated with Tarawa Unknown X-15.
To identify Lurcott’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Lurcott’s Niece, Janice Hechler, received the flag from her uncle’s casket.
(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)
by Elizabeth Fraser | Jun 24, 2019 | Air Force Chaplain, DVIDS Chaplain, Navy Chaplain
A U.S. Navy Chaplain gives remarks during the military funeral honors with funeral escort for U.S. Navy Cmdr. James. B. Mills in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, June 24, 2019.
From the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: On Sept. 21, 1966, Mills, a Naval Radar Intercept Officer (RIO), and the pilot, U.S. NavyCapt. James R. Bauder, were assigned to Fighter Squadron Twenty One, aboard the USS Coral Sea, flying in an F-4B in a flight of two aircraft on a night armed reconnaissance mission over then-North Vietnam. During the mission, the other aircraft lost contact with Mills’ aircraft, and his plane did not return to the ship. No missiles or anti-aircraft artillery were observed in the target area and no explosions were seen. An extensive search was conducted with negative results. Based on this information, Mills was declared missing in action.
Between 1993 and 2003, the loss of the Bauder/Mills aircraft was investigated a total of 15 times, with no success. In 2006, during Joint Field Activity 86, the investigation led to a possible underwater crash site. Five underwater investigations were required in order to determine the aircraft wreckage correlated to Bauder/Mills’ loss. In 2011, the Air Force Life Science Equipment Laboratory, now an element of DPAA, was able to positively identify the recovered wreckage as the Bauder/Mills aircraft.
Between 2010 and 2017, Underwater Recovery Teams (URT) from DPAA conducted excavations of a submerged aircraft crash site in the waters immediately off Quynh Phuong Village, Quynh Luu District, Nghe An Province, Vietnam. During the excavations, numerous pieces of aircraft wreckage, consistent with the Bauder/Mills aircraft, were found, as well as possible osseous material. The remains found were identified as Mills’ pilot, Bauder.
In June, 2018, a DPAA Joint Recovery Team conducted another excavation, finding additional remains. To identify Mills’ remains, DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical
by Elizabeth Fraser | Jun 6, 2019 | Army Chaplain, DVIDS Chaplain
U.S. Army Chaplain (Capt.) Joseph Adams speaks during military funeral honors for U.S. Army Sgt. Carl Mann in Section 59 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, June 6, 2019.
June 6 marked the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy where more than 165,000 Allied troops landed along the French coastline to fight Nazi Germany. Mann was among those Allied troops and during his Army career, earned three Purple Hearts and seven Bronze Stars.
More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded on D-Day but Mann survived and lived to be 96 before passing on March 30, 2019. Mann’s eldest son, Carl W. Mann II, received the flag from his father’s casket.
(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)
by Elizabeth Fraser | Apr 24, 2019 | Army Chaplain, DVIDS Chaplain, Marine Corps Chaplain, Navy Chaplain
Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard); The U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”, and The 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Caisson Platoon, conduct military funeral honors with funeral escort for U.S. Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Frank Brett in Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, April 24, 2019.
Frank was being interred with his brother, U.S. Navy Chaplain (Lt.) Robert Brett, who was interred in Section 2 near Chaplains Hill, in 1998 (after being moved from St. Mary’s Manor in Penndel, Pennsylvania).
Robert joined the military first out of the two, signing up for the Naval Chaplaincy School and Center in Rhode Island during the Vietnam War. He was assigned to the 26th Marine Corps regiment at Phu Bai in Vietnam and on Feb. 22, 1968, during the 77-day Seige of Khe Sanh, died with seven others when they were hit by a 122-millimeter rocket. Robert was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Legion of Merit.
Frank joined the Army months after his brother’s death and volunteered to go to Vietnam where he was assigned to the military police and earned honors including a Bronze Star for valor in 1970. After serving as a chaplain for 30 years, he retired in 1998.
Frank and Robert’s sister, Anastasia Lawlor, received the U.S. flag from Frank’s casket.
(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)
by Elizabeth Fraser | Apr 24, 2019 | Army Chaplain, DVIDS Chaplain, Marine Corps Chaplain, Navy Chaplain
Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard); The U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”, and The 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Caisson Platoon, conduct military funeral honors with funeral escort for U.S. Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Frank Brett in Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, April 24, 2019.
Frank was being interred with his brother, U.S. Navy Chaplain (Lt.) Robert Brett, who was interred in Section 2 near Chaplains Hill, in 1998 (after being moved from St. Mary’s Manor in Penndel, Pennsylvania).
Robert joined the military first out of the two, signing up for the Naval Chaplaincy School and Center in Rhode Island during the Vietnam War. He was assigned to the 26th Marine Corps regiment at Phu Bai in Vietnam and on Feb. 22, 1968, during the 77-day Seige of Khe Sanh, died with seven others when they were hit by a 122-millimeter rocket. Robert was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Legion of Merit.
Frank joined the Army months after his brother’s death and volunteered to go to Vietnam where he was assigned to the military police and earned honors including a Bronze Star for valor in 1970. After serving as a chaplain for 30 years, he retired in 1998.
Frank and Robert’s sister, Anastasia Lawlor, received the U.S. flag from Frank’s casket.
(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)
