Missing WWII Airman Identified

Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Emil T. Wasilewski of Chicago was buried on June 26 at Arlington National Cemetery. On Sept. 13, 1944, Wasilewski and eight other crew members were on a B-17G Flying Fortress that crashed near Neustaedt-on-the-Werra, Germany. Only one of the crewmen is known to have successfully parachuted out of the aircraft before it crashed. The remaining eight crewmen were buried by German forces in a cemetery in Neustaedt. Following the war, U.S. Army Graves Registration personnel attempted to recover the remains of the eight men, but were only able to move the remains of one man to a U.S. military cemetery in Holland. In 1953, with access to eastern Germany restricted by the Soviet Union, the remains of the seven remaining unaccounted-for crewmen -- including Wasilewski --were declared non-recoverable. In 1991, a German national who was digging a grave in the cemetery in Neustaedt discovered a metal U.S. military identification tag and notified officials. German burial law restricted further site investigation until 2007, when the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) surveyed the area. In 2008, the site was excavated and the team recovered human remains and military equipment. Scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, including dental comparisons and Y-chromosome DNA -- which matched that of Wasilewski's nephew -- in the identification of his remains. At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted for from the conflict.

Wednesday Hero

SP4 Donald Ward Evans, Jr.
23 years old from Covina, California
Company A, 2d Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
January 27, 1967

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Music Monday

Nirvana will always hold a special place with me. Everyone goes though some rough times, especially during their Teen years. Mine were pretty bad at times. Nirvana was the band that helped me when I need it. They're also the first band that I really got into and turned me onto music.


All Apologies (Live) by Nirvana

MIA Korean War Soldier & Vietnam Airman Identified

Army Cpl. Robert I. Wax of Detroit was buried yesterday, June 20, at Arlington National Cemetery. In August 1950, Wax and Battery A, 555th Field Artillery Battalion, were fighting against North Korean forces in a battle known as the "Bloody Gulch," near Pongam-ni, South Korea. After the battle, on Aug. 11, 1950, Wax was listed as missing in action. In late 1950, U.S. Army Graves Registration Service personnel recovered remains of service members from that battlefield, including nine men who were unidentified. These men were buried at the 25th Infantry Division Cemetery in South Korea. In 1951, the U.S. consolidated cemeteries on the peninsula. The unknown remains were re-interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2011, due to advances in identification technology, the remains were exhumed for identification.

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Wednesday Hero

Pfc. Joshua Ummel


Pfc. Joshua Ummel, Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon member, spins his M1 Garand rifle in the inspection line as part of the SDP's performance during a Tuesday Sunset Parade at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., June 5

Photo Courtesy U.S. Marines

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

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Music Monday

Very much the early Floyd psychedelic sound. Poor Syd. His life is a cautionary tale. So much talent gone to waste. Drugs will mess you up.


Astronomy Domine by Pink Floyd

MIA Vietnam Airman Identified

Air Force Lt. Col. Charles M. Walling of Phoenix was buried June 15 at Arlington National Cemetery. There will be a group burial honoring Walling and fellow crew member, Maj. Aado Kommendant of Lakewood, N.J., at Arlington National Cemetery, on Aug. 8 -- the 46th anniversary of the crash that took their lives.

On Aug. 8, 1966, Walling and Kommendant were flying an F-4C aircraft that crashed while on a close air support mission over Song Be Province, Vietnam. Other Americans in the area reported seeing the aircraft crash and no parachutes were deployed. Search and rescue efforts were not successful in the days following the crash.

In 1992, a joint United States-Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) team investigated the crash site and interviewed a local Vietnamese citizen who had recovered aircraft pieces from the site. In 1994, a joint U.S.-S.R.V. team excavated the site and recovered a metal identification tag, bearing Wallings name, and other military equipment. In 2010, the site was excavated again. Human remains and additional evidence were recovered.

Scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial and material evidence, along with forensic identification tools including mitochondrial DNA which matched Wallings living sister in the identification of the remains.