World War II servicemen’s remains identified
The remains of a Nebraska sailor who died at Pearl Harbor and a Nebraska soldier killed during a World War II battle in Germany have been identified and are being returned for final burial.
Pentagon officials say 19-year-old Bernard Doyle died Dec. 7, 1941, aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked. The Omaha World-Herald reports that Doyle joined the Navy in 1940, soon after graduating from high school in Red Cloud. His remains will be buried Saturday in Lake City, Iowa, where one of his sisters moved after the war.
The officials say Melvin Anderson enlisted in the U.S. Army a few months after the Pearl Harbor debacle. He and another soldier died Nov. 25, 1944, when a German artillery shell struck their tank destroyer. Anderson’s remains will be buried Friday at Omaha National Cemetery. AP
World War II veteran remains return to Iowa after 70 years
The remains of a World War II soldier killed in action have returned home to Iowa after more than 70 years buried as an unknown at an American military cemetery in France.
The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that Iowa Army National Guard members fired a 21-gun salute Oct. 6 to honor Army Pvt. Donald Brown, who was buried at a cemetery in Thompson, Iowa.
Brown died in 1944 when his tank was destroyed by enemy fire near Cambernon, France. But his remains were unable to be identified. His name was recorded alongside other missing veterans at an American Battle Monuments Commission site in France.
Brown’s remains were accounted for in June after family members submitted DNA for testing.
His niece, Alison Conrad, says she regrets that no one from Brown’s generation could see the burial. AP
Illinois Marine killed during WWII returning for burial
Relatives of a Chicago-area Marine killed during World War II are welcoming his body back after 75 years being buried in Hawaii as an unknown serviceman.
Military officials say DNA tests helped confirm the identity of Marine Corps Tech. Sgt. Harry Carlsen of Brookfield, who was 31 when he was killed while storming a Japanese stronghold in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands.
Ed Spellman of St. Charles tells the Daily Herald that a phone call came of the blue in July that his great-uncle’s body had been identified. He says his mother donated DNA in 2008 for the identification, but she died in 2012.
Carlsen’s relatives plan on meeting his casket Oct. 10 at O’Hare International Airport. He’ll be buried Oct. 13 at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Joliet, Ill. AP