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Manila American Cemetery
Grave A-12-195 where Bud Kelder
was buried as an Unknown

 

 

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The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is no Friend
to Families of Missing American Servicemen

May 27, 2019

 

Most families of missing American servicemen want to believe that our government is doing everything possible to account for them and, when possible, return their remains for burial by their families.  That's understandable as no one wants to think that the U.S. Government would deceive us.  

 

Recently, I was asked if the government knowingly returned the wrong remains to families for burial at home.  The answer is, yes, they did return the wrong remains quite often.  What's sadder is that even when the government was aware of their errors, they did their best to cover it up.

 

Here's the story of one of those mis-identifications and what the U.S. Government did to coverup their mistake rather than trying to fix it.  This story is unique only in that the subjects were more prominent than most.  The government's actions were exposed in this case, but the same errors and the same coverup have occurred thousands of times to other families.

 

Lieutenants Ira B. Cheaney and Alexander "Sandy" Nininger were best friends and both graduated in the West Point Class of '41.  Both were posted to the Philippines with the Philippine Scouts.  Nininger was killed in action during the Battle of Bataan and buried in the cemetery at Abucay.  He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions.

 

Cheaney was killed in action about two weeks later and nearly twenty miles away on the West Coast of Bataan.  His company commander identified his remains and he was buried near where he fell.  He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

 

Their regimental commander, Col. George Clarke, was relieved of his command shortly after Nininger's death - and prior to the death of Cheaney.  He was shipped out of Bataan on the last submarine to leave Corregidor, an action that probably saved his life, but left him forever labeled as a coward in the face of the enemy.

 

Upon Clarke's return to the States, apparently in an effort to both repair his image and to comfort the families, he contacted the families of several young officers who had perished while under his command.  Even though he wasn't present when they were buried, he informed the Nininger and Cheaney families that their sons were buried in the Abucay Churchyard (rather than the town cemetery).  The families shared this information with the Army and demanded that their sons be returned for burial in the States.  After the war, a set of remains recovered from the Abucay Churchyard were identified as those of Ira Cheaney and buried in the post cemetery at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY.

 

Also based on the false information supplied by Col. Clarke, the Army rejected recommendations that remains recovered from the Abucay town cemetery be identified as those of Nininger and search efforts were concentrated on the Abucay Churchyard.

 

In 1950, the Department of the Army began an investigation into the deaths of Nininger, Cheaney and several of their fellow officers.  They quickly concluded that the remains buried at West Point as Cheaney could not be his and were most likely those of either Lt Nininger or Lt David Maynard.  Rather than doing the right thing and sharing this information with the families and trying to identify the correct remains, the Army recommended that a senior officer visit all the witnesses who had provided information so they would all tell the same story.  Then the classification of the file was upgraded from CONFIDENTIAL to SECRET.  Ultimately, the file was declassified after more than sixty years had elapsed and without the contents being shared with the families.

 

Upon the request of one of the families, the remains buried at West Point were exhumed on April 16, 2019 and moved to DPAA's identification laboratory at Omaha, Nebraska.  While it ordinarily takes years (if ever) to get DPAA to disinter remains from military cemeteries, this disinterment took only a short seventy-one days from the time of the families request.  Only sixty-nine years after the Army became aware of their little mistake.

 

Get the picture, now?  DPAA operates not to account for the missing, instead, their mission is to minimize the embarrassment to the U.S. Government.  They hide the records of their misdeeds and do nothing unless they get caught red-handed.

 

A little personal note on this story - a few months before disinterment was requested, I was subpoenaed by the U.S. Government to provide an oral deposition on the facts of the Nininger case.  My deposition was taken by an Assistant U.S. Attorney who was assisted by a government attorney representing DPAA.

 

Late in the day, I referenced the Cheaney case (which I had also included in the "expert report" I was required to provide prior to the deposition).  They were all ready for me and introduced into the record a copy of the declassified file and proceeded to question me about it.  I refused to respond to their questions because they had introduced a "sanitized" nine page version of the file rather than the complete forty-three page file.  However, just trying to be helpful, I offered them the complete file, which they refused to include in the record.  What I found interesting, was the reaction of the Assistant U.S. Attorney representing DPAA.  He seemed very surprised to learn that he had been given an incomplete file and, rather than suggesting the court could require me to answer their questions, the deposition was soon concluded.  It looked like DPAA had blindsided him just as they had the families.

 

This is the short story.  If you'd like to read the actual file, it is available here.  The actual story begins on page 9 of the file.

 

While this story is well documented because of the prominence of the players, a recipient of the Medal of Honor and future president, Richard M. Nixon, it is far from unique.  I've seen literally thousands more with similar stories of the government malfeasance and coverup.

 

 

Disinterments to Begin Soon

March 15, 2018

 

After ten months of attempting to have the familys' lawsuit thrown out, the US Government has finally filed an answer to the complaint demanding the return of the remains of seven missing servicemembers.  While continuing to object to the disinterment of what are obviously the remains of LT Alexander Nininger, BG Guy Fort and COL Loren Stewart, they have conceded that the remains of the three Cabanatuan POW's can likely be identified.

 

Because the remains were badly commingled by the untrained contract embalmers employed by Army Graves Registration, the remains of all the men buried in each communal grave must be disinterred, identified and properly reassociated.

 

In their latest filing, the government informed the court that they have recommended disinterment of all the remains from Cabanatuan Grave 822 and their recommendation is currently pending before the Secretary of the Army. 

 

They further stated that they have not yet completed their review of Grave 704 and that they will not recommend disinterment of those buried in Grave 407 because they have not yet obtained sufficient DNA reference samples.  This is far from the last word and, considering that several years ago they were ordered to disinter the fourteen men buried in Grave 717 (the Kelder case) and have now conceded Grave 822, it is very likely that they will also recover everyone from these other graves as well as the remains of Nininger, Fort and Stewart.

 

The below excerpts were taken from the Cabanatuan burial roster.  If you know of any of these other families, please ask them to email bataanmissing@gmail.com for more information.

 

Its time the government worked as hard at returning these men to their families as they do to fighting the families in court.

 

Name                                                  Rank               Unit                 Next of Kin or Home of Record

 

Cabanatuan Grave 822
WALKER JAMES M                        Corp                31 Inf              Tim B. Walker; Pawnee, Okla
WOOD ALLEN W                            Pfc                   194 Tank         Mrs Mabel Wood; Paynesville, Minn
*MORGAN ROBERT R                   Pvt                   7 Mat               Mrs W.M. Morgan; 3519 W. Houston St., San Antonio, Texas
PRUITT BLANCHARD E                Pvt                   31 Inf              Mrs J.L. Pruitt; Florien, La
SCHOPP ERWIN H                          Pvt                   59 CAC           Mrs Mary Schopp; Plymouth, Nebr


Cabanatuan Grave 704
BLAHO PAUL                                  Corp                409 SC            Mrs Julia Bloho; Westmerland City Pa
WINTERS CHARLES B                   Pfc                   808 MP           Mrs Guy Zemo; 900 Market St., Wheeling, W. Va
CALKINS WILLIAM E                   Pvt                   QMC               Joseph E. Calkins; Corneleus, Ore
*BRUNTMYER LLOYD R              Pfc                   7 Mat               Harry L. Bruntmeyer; 2341 Des Moines St., Des Moines, Iowa
ERWIN KENNETH G                      Corp                59 CAC           Mrs Opal G. Erwin; 413 S. Elm., Ponca City, Okla
OHARA THOMAS W                       Pvt                   680 Ord           Michael O'Hara; 725, 130 St., College Point, N.Y.
CLARK WALTER L                         Corp                QMC               Mr Webb Clark; c/0 T.A. Chase; Willite, Calif
DOYASH HAROLD WALTER       Pfc                   4 USMC          Mrs Daisy Doyash; 62 Henry St., Detroit, Mich
SMITH HENRY J                              Pvt                   59 CAC           William H. Smith; Rt #2, Hannibal, New York
HENNESSEY HARLAND J            Pvt                   803 CE            Mrs D. Nennessy; 155 Ford St., Boonville, N.Y.


Cabanatuan Grave 407
PERNESTTI MARVIN                     Pvt                   CWS               Miss H. Pernestte, Mayking, Ky
VON RYCKE ANTHONY               Pvt                   AC                  13 W. 6th St., Propborbetown, _
CURRY JOHN M                              WO                 AGD               Dr. R.S. Curry; Poplar Blvd., Jackson, Miss
CHMIELEWSKI RAYMOND V     Pvt                   QMC               J.L. Chimiclowski; Lemont, Ill
GARRISON RUSSELL S                 Pvt                   194 Tank         3051 California St., San Francisco, Calif
KRAMER KENNETH L                   Pvt                   AC                  Mrs N. Kremer; 502 Pilchuck, Everett, Wash
CURD CHARLES W                        Pfc                   17 Pur              Mrs R.T. Curd; 609 W. Fulton St., Salisbury, N.C.
LYNCH CONDIA                             Pvt                   31 Inf              Mrs Mary Yarger; 525 LeRoy Ave., Bowling Green, Ohio
HUDSON ISAAC L                          Pfc                   AC                  Mrs J.R. Rawson; 3326 Fifth St., Meridian, Miss
HEGGEMEIER PAUL A                  S-Sgt               5 Inter             Mrs Z. Heggemeier; Madison, Kan
CAVENDER ROBERT B                 Pvt                   31 Inf              Alvina Goodteacher; Sante, Nebr
CRAIG CLEMENT D                       Corp                34 Pur              Mrs B.S. Craig; Galina Park, Texas
MARX CLYDE F                              Inf                   407                  _ Marx; 324 Central Ave., Oshkosh, Wisc
DUNCAN WILLIAM J                     Pvt                   20th AB          Mrs W. Duncan; Rt #11, Box 417, Lamay, Miss
BOLTON LEWIS B                          Pvt                   21 Pur              Mrs Lvdpy Bolton; Rt #1, Maberham, Tenn
BARTLETT ARNOLD L                  Pvt                   27 Bomb         Mrs Myrtle S. Heath; Cabot, Vt
*HANSEN DAVID C                       Pfc                   27 Bomb         Mrs A. Hanson; 2134 W. 52nd St., Milwaukee, Wisc
EDWARDS WADE                           Pvt                   SC                   Dale Edwards; Breadis, Mont
KINTZ FRANK J JR                         Pfc                   AC                  Mrs Alma G. Kintz; 134 Fontana St., Downcy, Calif
AGREN HAROLD E                        2nd Lt             QMC               E.F. Agren; Vashon, Wash
EBY WILLIAM E                             Pvt                   409 SC            Mrs Earl Eby; 185 Roosevelt Ave., Bend, Ore
WILLIAMS JAMES R                      S-Sgt               515 CAC         Mrs James R. Williams; 604 Colbrada St., Portales, N.M.
WORLEY HERBER R                      Pvt                   31 Inf              Heber Worley, St.; Wilcox Ave., Bell, Calif
MUMFORD WILLIAM M               Pfc                   19 aB               Mrs N. Mumford; 115 Highrock St., Nadhers, Mass
WEBB MALCOLM S                       Corp                Ord Tank         Regina webb; 1112 Ash St., Lowell, Kentucy
BRIGHT JACK R                              Pvt                   AC                  Mrs J.T. Bright; Henderson, Texas
WRIGLEY HARRY G                      Pvt                   AMC               T.S. Wrigley; 412 28th St., Baltimore, Md

 

* Missing family members of Plaintiffs

 

Missing 192nd Tank Battalion Soldiers Return Home for Burial - The Rest of the Story

 

August 7, 2017

 

More than seventy years after their deaths, Technician 4th Grade John Kovach, Jr. of Company C and PFC Lloyd J. Lobdell of Company A will finally be buried in their hometowns of Port Clinton, Ohio and Elkhorn, Wisconsin, respectively.

 

Both men became prisoners of war when the United States declined to reinforce and resupply American forces in the Philippine Islands in order to pursue the Europe First war strategy.  After surviving the infamous Bataan Death March, they were imprisoned under harsh conditions in the notorious Cabanatuan POW camp.  Each succumbed to tropical disease and starvation on November 19, 1942 and were buried in Communal Grave number 717 with twelve other men who died that day. 

 

A total of 2,655 U.S. casualties were removed from the camp cemetery in 1946 by victorious American forces and the remains transferred to a temporary cemetery near Manila where identification of the remains was attempted.  While the prisoners had secretly maintained detailed records of the occupants of each grave, the difficulty of individual identifications was compounded by the Army’s use of untrained contract personnel who commingled the remains.

 

Ultimately, only four men from Grave 717,

·                     PFC Daniel C. Bain, 803 Civil Engineers;

·                     PFC Juan E. Gutierrez, 200 Costal Artillery;

·                     SGT Lawrence Hanscom, 31st Infantry; and

·                     PFC Harvey A. Nichols, 33rd Quartermaster Company,

were identified and returned to their families for burial.  However, minor success was compromised when the Army shipped the wrong remains to those families.

 

In addition to Kovach and Lobdell, the remaining men;

·                     Private Arthur H. Kelder, 2nd General Hospital;

·                     Corporal George G. Simmons, 60 Costal Artillery;

·                     Private Evans E. Overbey, 19th Bomb Group;

·                     Corporal Fredrick G. Collins, Quartermaster Corps;

·                     Private Harold S. Hirschi, 19th Bomb Group;

·                     Corporal John W. Ruark, U.S. Marine Corps;

·                     Private Charles M. Waid, Medical Corps; and

·                     George York, a US Navy civilian employee

were buried as Unknowns in the Manila American Cemetery.  Records of the burials were classified as defense secrets and not shared with families of the missing men.  None of the families knew how their loved ones had perished or the location of their remains.

 

By 2009, the records had been declassified and were obtained by the families.  When the Department of Defense refused to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of the identities, family members filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court demanding the remains be returned to the families for burial.  In spite of intense government opposition, the remains were disinterred in August of 2014 and moved to the Central Identification Laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii.  In the ensuing years, the remains of only seven of the men have been identified and partial remains returned to their families for burial.

 

The remains of Ruark, Waid, York, Bain, Gutierrez, Hanscom, and Nichols await identification and an honorable burial.

 

The delay in identification of even partial remains and questions concerning the ultimate disposition of the balance of the recovered remains casts doubt on the adequacy and intent of the Department of Defense’s Central Identification Laboratory and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Families of Seven Missing U.S. Servicemen File Suit Against U.S. Government

 

Link to complaint filed in U.S. District Court

 

.PDF file of this Press release

 

 

San Antonio, TX – May 26, 2017 - The families of seven soldiers missing from World War II have filed suit in U.S. District Court in San Antonio demanding that the U.S. Government return the remains of their missing family members.

Thousands of American Servicemen remain missing from the Battle of Bataan and the Bataan Death March Seventy-Five years ago. Some were killed by the enemy and some died of disease and malnutrition while prisoners in brutal camps. Their families never knew where or how they died and never received the closure that comes with burial of loved ones. Recently released documents show that the U.S. Government negligently failed to identify the remains of thousands of missing servicemen and buried them as Unknowns in the Manila American Cemetery to avoid responsibility.

Among the missing was 1LT Alexander R. "Sandy" Nininger who was awarded the first Medal of Honor of WWII. Five times Army Graves Registration recommended identification of his remains, and five times Washington disapproved because the incorrectly calculated height of the remains didn't match his known height.  The remains of Lt Nininger are buried in Grave number J-7-20. 

The remains of Colonel Loren P. Stewart, commander of the 51st Infantry Regiment, were not identified because investigators misspelled his name as STUART and couldn't find his dental records. The remains of COL Stewart are buried in Grave number N-15-19.

Brigadier General Guy O. Fort commanded the 81st Infantry Division until he was captured and executed by the enemy in retaliation for his guerrilla activities. His execution was witnessed by the Provincial Governor who was also a prisoner. After the war, Governor Cruz recovered the remains and presented them to the Army with a sworn statement that they were the general's remains. In this statement he said that when the enemy bayoneted the general, he heard him shout, "You may get me but you will never get the United States of America."  The remains of General Fort are buried in Grave number L-8-113.

Also joining the suit demanding the return of their loved ones are the families of PFC Lloyd Bruntmyer, Private Robert R. Morgan, PFC David Hansen, and Private Arthur H. "Bud" Kelder, all of whom died of disease and starvation in the infamous Cabanatuan POW Camp. Kelder was the subject of prior litigation in which the government agreed to return his remains to his family, but ultimately handed over only three bones. Investigation revealed that the Government's highly touted DNA identification laboratory has neither the capacity nor the capability of identifying more than a small handful of remains each year.

The seven families are represented by John True Smitee, Jr. of Amarillo, Texas and Ron Sprague of the firm of Gendry & Sprague in San Antonio, Texas.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
John Eakin - 210-695-2204 - bataanmissing@gmail.com

 

 

 

Last update:  March 11, 2018

Copyright © 2018 - John Eakin