MIA Update - July 17, 2023

[boardman]

MIA Update: The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced six burial updates for service members who have been missing and unaccounted-for from World War II and Korea. Returning home for burial with full military honors are:

--Army Cpl. Rex W. Powell, 18, of Valdese, North Carolina, was a member of L Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Dec. 12, 1950. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953. He will be buried in Salisbury, North Carolina, on Aug. 11, 2023. Read about Powell https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3452999/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-powell-r/.
--Navy Ship’s Cook 1st Class Clarence Thompson, 47, of New Orleans, Louisiana, was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, 1941. He was among 429 crewmen killed that day. He will be buried in Slidell, Louisiana, on Aug. 25, 2023. Read about Thompson https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3455917/uss-oklahoma-sailor-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-thompson-c/.
--Army Pfc. Arthur C. Barrett, 27, of Swanton, Vermont, was assigned to the 31st Infantry Regiment. He died as a prisoner of war on July 19, 1942. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, on August 30, 2023. Read about Barrett https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3113893/soldier-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-barrett-a/.
--Army Pvt. Wing O. Hom, 20, of Boston, Massachusetts, was assigned to Company B, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on Feb. 2, 1944. The War Department issued a finding of death on Feb. 3, 1945. He will be buried in Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 11, 2023. Read about Hom https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3454205/soldier-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-hom-w/.
--Army Sgt. Cresenciano Garcia Jr., 22, of Laredo, Texas, was a member of Headquarters Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950, and was officially declared dead as a prisoner of war on or around February 28, 1951. He will be buried in his hometown on Oct. 14, 2023. Read about Garcia https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3452562/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-garcia-c/.
--Army Cpl. Dewey E. Rewis Jr., 18, of Waycross, Georgia, was a member of Battery D, 15th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division. He went missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, and was later reported to have died as a prisoner of war in March 1951. He will be buried in Echols County, Georgia, on a date yet to be determined. Read about Rewis https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3453993/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-rewis-d/.