The inductees were honored during a ceremony that coincides with the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School’s Heritage Week to celebrate decades of training and education in Army special operation forces.

The first-ever Heritage Week marks the 71st anniversary of the Army Special Forces school and center and coincides with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Army Training and Doctrine Command.

“Our close coordinating relationship with TRADOC is vital to ensuring Special Operations Forces remain aligned with the Army as we work to deliver the critical multi-domain capabilities for 2030,” Brig. Gen. Guillaume “Will” Beaurpere, Commander, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center School told Army Times in an email statement.

For a half-century the center and school trained generations of soldiers in irregular warfare, advanced special operations leader development and education for the total Army, Beaurpere wrote.

“We are extremely proud to be part of a TRADOC enterprise that generates the Army for the challenges of tomorrow,” he said.

Among the inductees is a Medal of Honor recipient, a former acting secretary of defense and ambassadors.

Inside the ongoing 'evolution' of Army special operations

Each of the inductees has contributed to the legacy and history of their respective regiments and the nation in and out of uniform, Beaurpere said.

“The stories of physical and intellectual capabilities and adaptability of our inductees remind us that once we set our minds to an objective and a mission and commit our energies, there is very little we as Americans can not accomplish,” Beaurpere said.

The Regimental Honors program began in 1981, covered in updated Army Regulation 870-21 to replace the Combat Arms Regimental System, which dated to the late 1950s, Roxanne M. Merritt, director of the JFK School’s Heritage Center and museum, told Army Times in an email response.

The majority of inductees are retired. If on active duty status, they were either killed in action or died prematurely while serving. Nominations come from a variety of organizations, persons, or individual commands. Inductees are honored in the local ceremony and, in some cases, a medallion, Merritt wrote.

A short biography, photo and description of contributions outside of military service are included on the Regimental Hall of Fame in Clay Hall at the school/center and also on digital kiosks throughout the campus.

There have been more than 225 inductees to the Regimental Honors program since 1981. Inductees are honored by their respective regiments - Psychological Operations, Civil Affairs and Special Forces.

School spokesman Army Maj. Rick Dickson told Army Times that the first Heritage Week saw members of the three regiment communities across generations converge on Fort Bragg for a series of events that included a chapel rededication, physical training session, a formal dinner and the induction ceremony among other events.

“This Heritage Week is really focused on looking at the past and remembering our history as we try to move forward into the future,” Dickson told Army Times in a phone interview. “American irregular warfare and unconventinal warfare tactics trace back all the way to the American Revolutionary War.”

As the service looks to the Special Operations Force of 2030, Dickson said that history is important.

“We’re trying to take that history and lessons learn and move it into the future,” Dickson said.

Psychological Operations

Retired Col. Rick Springett served in multiple roles within the psychological operations regiment including in the U.S. Special Operations Command.

As chief of the Military Information Support Operations Branch, he was responsible for four trans-regional programs supporting the geographic combatant commands and theatre special operations commands. The programs included strategic military information support operations “directed against Al Qaida, their affiliates, and violent extremism.”

Between 2004 to 2008, Springett worked with others to establish policies and procedures for the initial assessment of psychological operations and civil affairs officers.

After his retirement in 2014, Springett was a senior civilian plans analyst under SOCOM’s Sensitive Activities Division until 2021, deploying to Afghanistan and Southwest Asia in the role.

First Lt. Daniel J. Edelman entered the Army as a public relations specialist during World War II under the 5th Mobile Radio Broadcasting Co., 100th Infantry Division.

His time at the Office of War Information “allowed him to counter German propaganda and disinformation” through publishing “Der Speigel,” a German magazine, and polling Germans to determine their attitudes toward the occupation and the Nuremberg Trials.

Edelman founded his own public relations firm in 1952, which counts a campaign to increase support for the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in its portfolio. Edelman dedicated his time to nonprofits like the American Red Cross and Save the Children until his death in 2013.

Special Forces

Maj. John J. Duffy was presented the Medal of Honor on July 5, by President Joe Biden for his 1972 actions in Vietnam.

According to Duffy’s citation, he served as a senior enlisted advisor to the 11th Airborne Battalion, 2d Brigade, Airborne Division. After his commander was killed during an attack that wounded Duffy twice, Duffy refused to be evacuated.

Duffy directed defense around a support base on April 14, 1972, and moved close to enemy positions to call in airstrikes, becoming wounded again.

After the enemy attacked the base, Duffy ensured wounded friendly foreign soldiers were moved to safety and maintained his position during indirect enemy fire. He was the last man to leave the base during a withdrawal.

When the acting battalion commander was wounded, he assumed command of the evacuation and maintained communication with the available air support to direct fire on the enemy.

The following morning, Duffy organized defensive positions when the enemy ambushed the battalion and led the wounded to an evacuation area.

Retired Maj. Gen. David A. Morris was a charter member of Charlie Company, 3d Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group Combatant Commanders, which is now known as the Critical Threats Advisory Co.

During his career, he conducted foreign internal defense in support of the El Salvadorian government during two tours and received presidential approval for his recommendation to overcome the insurgents’ advantage.

Near the end of his first decade of service, Morris was selected to assume responsibility for Phase I training of the Special Forces Qualification Course at Camp Mackall.

His career included developing a program with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to use artificial intelligence to guide the mission planning of U.S. special operations forces and helped develop a program that later became the Defense Threat Database System.

In 1989, he wrote a paper that provided support to special operations forces during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell approved Morris’ classified plan for creating the Army Special Mission Unit.

In retirement, he has served as chairman of the Green Beret Foundation and serves with veteran nonprofit organizations.

Retired Col. Ronald D. Johnson enlisted in the National Guard in 1971 and graduated from the Special Forces Officers Course in 1977, while assigned to the 20th Special Forces Group. In 1984, he entered active-duty service as the detachment commander with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group in Panama.

He would serve in a wide variety of roles, including being selected as the first Special Forces officer to attend the Army War College fellowship at the Central Intelligence Agency.

Johnson spent most of his military career in the Southern Command Area of Responsibility and led combat operations in El Salvador as one of the authorized 55 military advisors during the civil war there in the 1980s.

He also deployed to the Balkans in the 1990s as the senior military officer of an integrated team made up of members of the CIA, National Security Agency and Special Mission Unit to apprehend people indicted for war crimes.

After leaving military service, Johnson worked with the CIA and participated in worldwide operational and combat experiences with special mission units. He also served as the senior representative for directors of National Intelligence and the CIA at the U.S. Southern Command and as the science and technology liaison to the U.S. Special Operations Command for the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 2019, he was appointed and served as the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador until his retirement in 2021.

Retired Col. Christopher C. Miller served as an enlisted infantryman in the U.S. Army Reserves and as a military policeman in the Washington, D.C., National Guard during his 27 years of military service.

In 1993, he transferred to U.S. Army Special Forces, serving in numerous command and staff positions within the 5th Special Forces Group.

He is credited for being a “key player” during numerous worldwide deployments and contributing to the planning and participation of the 5th Special Forces Group’s initial combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Miller served in numerous special operations organizations and as deputy commander of the Specialized Joint Unit, U.S. Special Operations Southern Command.

After retiring in 2014, he worked as a defense contractor, a special assistant to the president at the National Security Council, assistant secretary of defense for special operations low-intensity conflict and deputy assistant secretary of defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism.

Miller served as the acting secretary of defense from Nov. 9, 2020, to Jan. 20, 2021.

Retired Col. Mark E. Mitchell commissioned in 1987 as an infantry officer and served in the 24th Infantry Division, including in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

He graduated from the Special Forces qualification course in 1993 and served as a detachment commander, company commander, battalion operations officer, and battalion commander with the 5th Special Forces Group during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Mitchell spent a significant portion of his military career in the Central Command Area of Responsibility, leading combat operations in Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

He was director of plans at the U.S. Special Operations Command Central; director of operations for the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Arabian Peninsula and was also the commander of the 5th Special Forces Group and Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force at the Arabian Peninsula.

He has also served as director for Counterterrorism on the National Security Council and after his military retirement, served as principal deputy and acting assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.

Retired Lt. Col. Roger D. Carstens commanded a platoon in the 75th Rangers, including a combat jump into Panama during Operation Just Cause.

He graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course in 1991 and was a detachment commander and company executive officer and battalion executive officer with the 10th Special Forces Group in Germany.

He’s also commanded Company A, 4th Battalion and Company F, 1st Battalion under the 1st Special Warfare Training Group, training soldiers in unconventional warfare skills including the final Robin Sage exercise.

Carstens served as legislative liaison for U.S. Special Operations Command and as an advisor to the National Counter Terror Bureau during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

After his military career, Carstens has served as a special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, which negotiates the release of American citizens wrongfully detained abroad or taken hostage by terrorists and was designated as an ambassador by the president.

He also served as senior counterinsurgency and security force assistance advisor in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Sgt. 1st Class Riley E. Lott Jr. was of several Green Berets of Native American descent.

Lott altered his birth certificate at the age of 16 in 1960 to join the Army as a medic. After basic training personnel discovered his age, he was sent home and rejoined the military the next year.

Lott spent five of his nine years of military service in Vietnam as a combat medic.

He began his education in jungle medicine at Long An, Vietnam, treating those affected by the siege of the Special Forces team as the Civilian Irregular Defense Group revolted against U.S. forces.

In Don Phuoc, he lived with, fought alongside, trained and treated Cambodian strikers who made up the Mobile Strike Force Command

Lott worked with the Cambodian forces to rebuild the abandoned Special Forces camp at To Chau and clear areas surrounding Special Forces camps at Cai Cai and My Dien II.

Lott left the Army at the age of 26 but continued to help family members, veterans and strangers in need, taking veterans to hospice care and hosting weekly veteran lunches.

He died Aug. 29, 2021.

Azadeh Aryana was born in Tehran and fled Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979 with her 3-year-old son. Pregnant at the time and fleeing under diplomatic immunity, she arrived in California.

While awaiting the arrival of her husband who was still in Iran, Aryana, with limited English, worked as a janitor at a fast-food restaurant.

She first rose through the ranks at the restaurant, before rising in the ranks and becoming security director of Cisco Systems, a multinational digital communications conglomerate.

Aryana then opened her own security firm providing personal security to clients in the San Francisco area.

After putting her children through college, she retired and devoted her time to American service members after a family member joined Special Forces.

Over the past 17 years, she has personally shipped more than 10,000 care packages to deployed active and reserve Special Forces soldiers.

Additionally, Aryana serves as a Special Forces goodwill ambassador, consistently attending military homecomings across California and has participated as a patriot motorcycle rider.

Civil Affairs

Born in Peru and raised in Arizona, retired Col. Ernesto L. Sirvas commissioned to serve in the field artillery branch from 1987 to 1996. He then joined the Civil Affairs branch from 1996 to 2015.

At the beginning of his Civil Affairs career with the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion, Sirvas served four years in various roles including as a team leader, operations officer, company executive officer, company commander and logistics staff officer.

Sirvas’ next assignment took him to Special Operations Command South in Puerto Rico for four years, where he served as a Civil Affairs planner and command group executive officer.

Sirvas continued his career by commanding the U.S. Army Forces Battalion in support of Joint Task Force Bravo in Honduras and returned to the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade as deputy commander.

In 2010, Sirvas was assigned to Regional Command West, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. There, he coordinated and synchronized U.S. support to stability and governance efforts in the Afghan provinces of Herat, Rarah, Badghis, and Ghor, and advised the commander and staff on matters pertaining to stability and governance.

He also worked with Spanish, Lithuanian, Italian, and U.S. governments and agencies to implement programs supporting International Security Force Assistance joint command lines of effort in western Afghanistan.

Sirvas returned to Fort Bragg to serve as the U.S. Army Special Operations Command chief of Concepts, Experimentation, and Science and Technology.

He also directed the creation of a cross-organization planning team to review and develop recommendations to redesign the U.S. Army Reserve Civil Affairs structure to enhance the soldiers’ career paths and their ability to support the conventional maneuver force commander. Furthermore, he directed the implementation of a Reserve Component Civil Affairs Captains’ Career Course.

After 28 years of Army service, Sirvas retired and continues to be of service to the military community through volunteer work, providing scholarships to military family members, donating to family readiness groups and assisting Civil Affairs soldiers and families after traumatic events.

Donald C. Barton first enlisted in the Army from 1974-1981 as an air defense artillery vulcan gunner and other positions. In 1981, he reenlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and served at the 307 Psychological Operations Company in roles of increasing leadership until 1993. In 1993, Barton returned to active duty and served until his retirement in 2006.

After 20 years of active service and 12 years of reserve service, Barton authored and coauthored several documents that established or revised more than seven Civil Affairs military occupational specialties.

He’s also provided analysis during the Civil Affairs Force Modernization Assessment.

Barton is currently a Fayetteville resident.

Spencer Meredith IlI serves as a professor of National Security Strategy at the National Defense University, College of International Security Affairs.

He has spent more than half that time mentoring, advising, and educating the operational and institutional special operations forces.

He provides regional expertise on Eastern Europe, Russian, Eurasian, and Middle Eastern politics, and their roles throughout the special operations community.

He also serves as a subject-matter expert for several geographic combatant commands, the intelligence community, and joint special operations and frequently advises the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and subordinate units at Fort Bragg.

Meredith also has articles appearing in professional publications such as Strategy Bridge, Small Wars Journal, InterAgency Journal and Foreign Policy Journal.

The Fayetteville Observer military and crime editor F.T. Norton and Army Times contributed to this report.

Editor’s Note: This article was published as part of a content-sharing agreement between Army Times and The Fayetteville Observer. This article has been updated to include additional comments from the commander of the JFK Special Warfare Center School.

Sgt. Richard E. Crotty, of Geneva, Illinois, served with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division on Sept. 1, 1950 when he was reported missing in action following fighting near Yongsan, South Korea, according to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency release.

Crotty’s was never listed as a prisoner of war, according to the release. The Army made a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953, according to the release. His remains were determined to be unrecoverable in January 1956.

Though a set of remains were recovered near Yongsan in July 1951. Officials at the time believed the remains were Crotty’s and designated as X-1667 Tanggok and buried in the United Nations Cemetery Tanggok that same month.

The Central Identification Unit Kokura, housed in Japan, reexamined X-1667 in March 1955 and made more attempts in April 1955. Experts declared the remains unidentifiable and had them transported with other unidentified remains to the National Memorial of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Crotty’s next of kin contacted the Army in 2017 and requsted the disinterment of the X-1667 remains. The remains were disinterred in September 2018 and transported for further analysis.

Agency scientists used dental, anthropological and isotope analysis to identify the remains’ as Crotty’s, officially designated as such on Feb. 3, 2023.

As one of the “unknowns,” Crotty’s name was recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl. Once identified, a rosette is placed next to names previously listed as unrecovered or unknown.

Crotty’s remains are scheduled for burial in Peoria, Illinois on April 29, 2023.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

To see the most up-to-date statistics on DPAA recovery efforts for those unaccounted for from the Korean War, go to the Korean War fact sheet on the DPAA website at: https://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, or find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

In 1950, Sgt. 1st Class Ellis Coon, Mount Herman, Louisiana, served as a member of C Battery, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, according to an April 5 release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Following the Battle of Ch’ongch’on, officials reported Coon missing on Dec. 1, 1950. After the war, researchers discovered that Coon had died of malnutrition and a lack of medical care likely on Feb. 14, 1951, in POW Camp #5, according to the release.

The Army declared a presumptive finding of death in March 1954 and declared the sergeant “non-recoverable” in January 1956.

Nearly four decades later, on Dec. 21, 1993, North Korean officials transferred 34 boxes of remains believed to be of U.S. troops who had died during the war.

Personnel had recovered some of those transferred remains at the POW Camp #5. Using anthropological analysis, other evidence multiple types of DNA testing, scientists identified Coon’s remains.

The sergeant’s name is etched into the Courts of the Missing at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, along with others still missing from the Korean War, according to the release. A rosette indicating that his remains have been identified will be placed next to his name on the memorial.

The date and location of Coon’s burial have not yet been determined.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

To see the most up-to-date statistics on DPAA recovery efforts for those unaccounted for from the Korean War, go to the Korean War Accounting page on the DPAA website at: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaFamWebKorean.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Pvt. Leroy M. Slenker, 28, of El Segundo, California served as a member of 75th Ordnance Depot Company in 1941 when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December, according to a release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Fighting continued on in April 1942 on the Bataan peninsula and also in May of the same year on Corregidor Island.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino troops captured by the invading Japanese military were force-marched on a 65-mile course to the Cabanatuan POW camp in what would later be known as the “Bataan Death March.”

Many died during the march. More than 2,500 POWs died at the camp during the war.

Based on prison camp records, Slenker died Nov. 15, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 721, according to an agency release.

After the war, American Graves Registration personnel exhumed remains from the camp cemetery and moved them to a temporary mausoleum near Manila, Philippines.

Personnel identified six sets of remains from Common Grave 721 in 1947, but the rest of the remains were not identifiable using methods at the time.

The common grave contents were disinterred in June 2018 and sent to the agency laboratory for further analysis. Researchers were able to identify Slenker’s remains using a combination of anthropological and dental methods.

Slenker will be buried in Dixon, California at a not yet determined date.

Cpl. Delbert L. White, of Ottumwa, Iowa, served in D Company, 2nd Engineer (Combat) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division in late 1950 when Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces captured White and other division soldiers as White’s unit attempted to block the forces’ advance, according to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency release.

The blocking action was to allow the rest of the division to escape to the south and avoid being overrun.

It wasn’t until August 1953 when volunteer forces officials sent a list to the United Nations Command that stated White died in March 1951 while a prisoner at POW Camp #1.

But back in September 1953, two returned American POWs told officials that White had died in February 1951 at POW Camp #5.

In the fall of 1954 during Operation Glory, 550 sets of remains from camp #5 were returned to the UN Command. Those remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Then, in October 2019, the section of the cemetery in which White’s remains were buried was excavated for a remains disinterment and identification project, according to the release.

White’s name along with others is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl. A rosette, symbolizing that his remains have been identified, will be added to the listing.

The corporal will be buried in Ottumwa, Iowa on a not yet determined date.

Pvt. Myron E. Williams, of Dixon, Illinois, served in Company L, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division at the time of his death, according to a recent release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

The agency accounted for Williams’ remains on July 13, 2022. Agency officials released information about his case on March 20.

“His body unable to be recovered, and the Germans never reported him as a prisoner of war,” according to the release. “The War Department issued a presumptive finding of death for Williams on Nov. 17, 1945.”

An agency historian determined that one set of unidentified remains from the battle site, designated X-5432 Neuville, and recovered Germeter and Hürtgen possibly belonged to Williams.

Those remains had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium in 1949. Workers disinterred the remains in April 2019 and sent them to the agency laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.

Williams’ name is listed on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, another commission site in Margraten, Netherlands, according to the release. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Williams will be buried in Killeen, Texas. A date has not yet been set.

Sgt. Lawrence J. Robidoux, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, served in B Company, 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division in November 1950 when he was reported missing in action after his unit withdrew from Ipsok, North Korea, according to a release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

The agency identified the remains on January 24 and released the information on March 21.

In 1953, several POWs returned during Operation Big Switch reported Robidoux had been a prisoner of war and died in May 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #5, according to the release.

A year later, during Operation Glory, North Korean officials returned remains recovered from Pyoktong, or POW Camp #5. But officials did not associate any of those remains with Robidoux.

In December 2019, the agency disinterred remains designated Unknown X-14646 returned as part of Operation Glory that had been buried in a section for unknown remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, also known as the Punchbowl.

Robidoux’s name is etched on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. A rosette will be added next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for, according to the release.

Robidoux will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. A date has not yet been determined.

Army Reserve Chief Warrant Officer 3 Larry A. Zich assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 37th Signal Battalion, 1st Signal Brigade in April 1972, according to the agency.

On April 3, Zich was one of four soldiers on a combat support mission from Marble Mountain, Da Nang, South Vietnam, to Quang Tri City, South Vietnam on a UH-1H Iroquois helicopter. Zich was the co-pilot. During the flight, the pilot told a ground control approach controller that he was lost but believed they were near Quang Tri. The controller could not locate the helicopter on radar and reported the crew missing.

The helicopter did not land at any bases in South Vietnam, and an aerial search found no sign of the aircraft or the crew. The Joint Casualty Resolution Center conducted a dozen investigations into this incident between 1993 and 2014.

In April 1988, a Vietnamese refugee gave the Defense Intelligence Agency human remains that reportedly belonged to nine people killed in an aircraft crash and buried in Quang Nam Province. The same month, those remains were sent to a lab in Hawaii.

Scientists used dental, anthropological, and DNA analysis to identify Zich’s remains. He will be buried in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Army Sgt. Gregory V. Knoll was assigned to Company M, 3rd Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, according to the agency. He was reported killed in action on Nov. 7, 1944.

Knoll’s battalion had been tasked with capturing Schmidt, Germany, a town in the Hürtgen Forest. After German soldiers overran the unit, survivors withdrew to Kommerscheidt and continued fighting German forces.

The American Graves Registration Command, responsible for recovering American service members in Europe, conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950. They were unable to recover or identify Knoll’s remains.

A historian studying American losses in Hürtgen determined a set of remains could be Knoll. The remains were recovered at Kommerscheidt in 1946 and had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium in 1949. They were disinterred in July 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Scientists used anthropological analysis, circumstantial evidence and DNA analysis to identify Knoll’s remains.

A rosette will be placed by Knoll’s name on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium. He will be buried in Garden City, Kansas on July 7, 2023.

Army Pfc. Harry J. Hartmann was a member of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in the fall of 1950. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 2 during fighting near Unsan, North Korea. According to repatriated POWs, Hartmann was captured and held as a prisoner of war at Camp #5, Pyoktang, North Korea. He died on or around March 31, 1951.

Nearly 500 sets of remains from burial sites at Camp #5 were returned to the U.S. as part of Operation Glory after the war ended. All but 38 were identified. The unidentified remains were buried in 1956 as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also called the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

As DPAA scientists continue work to identify the remains of American service members killed in the Korea War, a number of the remains from Camp #5 were exhumed and moved to the laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Scientists used dental, anthropological, and DNA analysis to identify Hartmann’s remains.

A rosette will be placed by McKeon’s name on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, and he will be buried in his home state of New Jersey.

Scientists positively identified Army Tech Sgt. Matthew L. McKeon’s remains on Jan. 12, 2023, according to a March 16 release from the agency.

McKeon was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division in November 1944. He was reported killed in action when his unit was fighting German forces near Hürtgen, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest. At the time, his remains were not recovered.

The American Graves Registration Command, tasked with investigating and recovering missing American service members in Europe, was unable to identify McKeon’s remains, despite several investigations in the Hürtgen area for several years after the war’s end.

An historian determined that a set of unidentified remains which had been recovered near Hürtgen and buried at Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950 could belong to a service member missing from combat in November 1944. The remains were disinterred in June 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base. Scientists identified McKeon’s remains using dental and anthropological analysis, as well as DNA analysis.

A rosette will be placed by McKeon’s name on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery.

Army Cpl. Clark E. Worline was reported missing in action on Nov. 26, 1950, according to the agency. He was a member of C Company, 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion, 8th U.S. Army. His unit was fighting the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces near Sinjang, North Korea, at the time of his disappearance.

There are no records or eyewitness accounts which verify Worline was a POW, but it was common for prisoners not to know other captives who died.

After the United States signed an armistice with North Korea in 1953, officials decided the sides would exchange the remains of deceased service members for repatriation, an effort that was named Operation Glory. United Nations forces recovered and returned thousands of remains, including those from POW Camps, POW march routes, and isolated burials from battlefield losses.

Worline’s remains were among dozens from Prisoner of War Camp no. 5 that were buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also called the Punchbowl, in Honolulu in 1956.

In 2019, those remains were disinterred and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for analysis. Scientists identified Worline’s remains using dental and anthropological analysis in addition to circumstantial evidence.

A rosette will be placed by Worline’s name on the Courts of the Missing in the Punchbowl, and his remains will be buried in Ohio on a date not yet determined.

Army Sgt. Thaddeus S. Matuszak, Army Pfc. William L. Simon, and Army Air Forces Tech Sgt. Frank C. Ferrel have all been all accounted for since September 2022.

Sgt. Thaddeus S. Matuszak

Matuszak was assigned to Company K, 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division in September 1944, according to the agency. It was part of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army, which had been fighting across France. In September, the German army stopped them at the Moselle River near Dornot. Some soldiers held their position against the Germans at the edge of a forest they called Horseshoe Woods.

Matuszak was reported missing after the fight, but soldiers were unable to recover his body because of the fighting and the German army’s presence along the river.

As part of ongoing research on soldiers missing from combat at Horseshoe Woods, historians and archaeologists discovered remains that could match Matuszak. The remains were disinterred in September 2018 and sent to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis. Scientists use dental and anthropological evidence to positively identify Matuszak, as well as circumstantial evidence and DNA analysis.

A rosette will be placed by his name on the Walls of the Missing at the Lorraine American Cemetery in France. He will be buried in Wisconsin.

Pfc. William L. Simon

Simon was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, according to the agency. Simon was reported killed in action in November 1944, when his unit was battling German forces near Hürtgen, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest.

Simon’s remains were not recovered after the battle and were not identified during investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950.

A historian with the agency determined a set of unidentified remains at Ardennes American Cemetery could be Simon’s and they were disinterred and sent to the lab at Offutt Air Force Base in 2019. Scientists used dental and anthropological evidence, along with circumstantial evidence, to positively identify the remains, as well as DNA analysis.

A rosette will be placed with Simon’s name on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery. He will be buried in Wisconsin.

Tech Sgt. Frank C. Ferrel

Ferrel was assigned to the 328th Bombardment Squadron, 93rd Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force, according to the agency.

Ferrel was part of Operation Tidal Wave, the largest bombing mission against oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. He was an engineer on a B-24 Liberator bomber that was hit by enemy fire and crashed.

Ferrel’s remains were not identified after the war and were buried as unknowns alongside dozens of others at two cemeteries in Belgium: Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery.

DPAA investigators began exhuming those remains in 2017, sending them to the laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base for identification. Scientists used anthropological and DNA analysis to positively identify Ferrel’s remains.

A rosette will be placed with Ferrel’s name on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Italy. He will be buried in Texas.

Army Cpl. Carmen Carrillo was accounted for Feb. 3, 2023, and Army Master Sgt. Merritt L. Wynn on Aug. 26, 2022, according to separate releases from the the agnecy on March 1.

Wynn was a member of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division in late 1950. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 26, 1951, after the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces attacked his unit’s position east of Unsan, North Korea, according to the agency. Wynn was awarded the Silver Star Medal for his leadership and bravery on that day.

In 2018, after the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea gave the U.S. 55 boxes believed to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War. The remains were sent to the agency laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for identification.

Investigators were able to identify Wynn’s remains from among those remains using dental, anthropological, and isotope analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.

A rosette will be placed by Wynn’s name at the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. He will be buried in Centralia, Illinois, on a date that has not yet been set.

The agency did not indicate how it accounted for Carrillo, who was reported missing in action on May 17, 1951, after fighting the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces in Gangwon Hongchun, Republic of Korea. He was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.

Carrillo was never recorded as a prisoner of war. His remains were determined not to be recoverable in January 1956.

Agency investigators conduct excavations and collect evidence at loss sites in South Korea every year. Since 1982, the agency has helped identify the remains of more than 450 Americans killed in the Korean War and return them to their families for burial with full military honors.

Darlene Tryon, a close friend and the executor of Holder’s estate, said he died at Friday at a hospital in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. The Pearl Harbor National Memorial also announced the death. Born to a farming family in Gunter, Texas, Holder joined the Navy in 1940 when he was 18.

He was on duty at Ford Island within Oahu’s Pearl Harbor when Japanese aircraft bombed the U.S. naval base on Dec. 7, 1941.

“The first bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor was about 100 yards from me,” Holder said, adding that he “saw guys swimming through burning oil in the water.”

Holder recalled diving into a ditch to avoid gunfire.

Pearl Harbor survivor and ‘world’s oldest conductor’ dies at 104

Hunkered down behind a fortress of sandbags, “I wondered if this was the day I would die,” Holder told the Arizona Republic in a 2016 interview. “That morning I watched as Japanese dive bombers devastated Pearl Harbor. I knew that we would no longer sit on the sidelines of the war ravaging Europe.”

Holder said he spent three harrowing days manning a makeshift machine gun pit, a ditch lined with sandbags, in the aftermath of the attack.

About 2,400 servicemen were killed in the Pearl Harbor attack, which launched the U.S. into World War II. The USS Arizona alone lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, nearly half the death toll.

Holder went on to fight in the Battle of Midway and flew missions over Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands before being transferred to England and flying missions along the French coast and the English Channel.

The Pearl Harbor National Memorial said Holder was awarded two distinguished flying cross medals, six air medals, a presidential citation and six commendation medals in his Navy career before being honorably discharged in 1948.

Holder then flew for 25 years as a corporate and commercial pilot, took up golf and moved to an Arizona retirement community. He also became an avid WWII educator and became a regular at Pearl Harbor commemorations and museums and schools, according to Tryon.

In December 2021, a nonprofit company took Holder on an honor flight out of Mesa’s Falcon Field to celebrate his 100th birthday. Asked at the event to tell his secret to a long life, Holder said “good heart exercise and two scotch and sodas every night.”

Tryon said an early April memorial service is planned for Holder in Phoenix and he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near the nation’s capital at a later date.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t have statistics for how many Pearl Harbor survivors are still living.

Army Cpl. Donald L. Dupont, 22, was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action while fighting the enemy near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, on Dec. 2, 1950. According to a release from the accounting agency, Dupont’s remains could not be recovered after the battle.

There is no evidence to indicate Dupont was ever held a prisoner of war, according to the agency.

It is not clear how the agency located or identified Dupont’s remains, but the agency works to recover missing service members from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and other conflicts.

In 2018, North Korea transferred dozens of boxes of remains for identification in the U.S. At that time, nearly 7,700 American service members were listed as unaccounted for from the Korean War. The accounting agency also conducts investigations at loss sites in South Korea in order to collect evidence and conduct excavations.

The remains of more than 450 Americans killed in the Korean War have been identified and returned to their families for burial since 1982.

Army Pfc. Thomas F. Green of Romana, California, was the door gunner on a CH-47B Chinook helicopter flying a supply mission from Tuy Hoa to Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam, Oct. 26, 1971, when it crashed over water, according to the agency. At the time, Green was assigned to the 68th Aviation Company, 52nd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group.

During search and rescue operations, remains of only four of the 10 soldiers on board were recovered, and Green’s was not among them, the agency said in a statement.

Three years later, divers attempted to recover additional remains but were unsuccessful. It was not until June 2021 when divers found possible human remains and material evidence from what was believed to be the crash site.

Agency scientists used DNA analysis and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence, to identify Green’s remains on Aug. 23, 2022.

Green is memorialized at the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In both places, a rosette will be placed by Green’s name on to indicate he has been accounted for.

Green will be buried in Ramona, California, on Feb. 23, 2023.

Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Harold Kretzer, 32, of Odin, Illinois, was a gunner-engineer assigned to the 66th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, according to the agency.

He was on a B-24 Liberator Bomber during Operation Tidal Wave on Aug. 1, 1943 when enemy fire struck the bomber and it crashed. The plane was one of 51 aircraft that did not return from the mission, and Kretzer’s remains were unidentified after the war.

Operation Tidal Wave was intended to cut off oil supply for the Axis powers by targeting fields and refiners at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. While American airmen successfully damaged the refineries, Germany had been prepared with anti-aircraft guns circling Ploesti before the first wave of bombers arrived from Libya, according to researchers.

Hundreds of U.S. Army Air Forces airmen were killed during Operation Tidal Wave in Romania.

Some were buried and later identified by the American Graves Registration Command.

The remains of more than 80 unidentified American personnel had been interred at Ardennes America Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium, until 2017. The DPAA began exhuming remains believed to be associated with airmen lost in Operation Tidal Wave, moving them to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and, hopefully, identification.

Agency scientists identified Kretzer’s remains on Aug. 23, 2022, using DNA and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.

A rosette will be placed next to Kretzer’s name on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy, to indicate he has been accounted for.

He will be buried in Springfield, Illinois, at an undetermined date.

“Last Out” follows the story of Danny Patton, his wife Lynn, and his comrades. It is based on true stories, a quilt with pieces from the many men and women Lt. Col. Scott Mann served with — and yes — the family he left behind while he served the country.

Mann spent almost 23 years in the Army, 18 of them in special forces. He deployed to Central and South America, Iraq, and Afghanistan. When Mann’s time in the service ended, he said struggled to process the survivor’s guilt and post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in service. Mann talks about the pinnacle of overflowing emotions in a TED Talk in 2019, describing the time he almost took his own life.

With help, Mann overcame that struggle using storytelling. What started as a five-minute play evolved into “Last Out,” a story about the cost of war that Mann said is told the way it was lived, and in a voice that has never been heard.

Mann and the “Last Out” crew traveled America with a U-Haul, performing in many cities in 2019. Cast members would have talkbacks with the audience after the show, hearing from veterans and their families, Gold Star families, and civilians. That was all put on hold when the pandemic started. Mann saw an opportunity to reach new audiences online, and began working on plans to record “Last Out” for release on a major streaming platform. Proceeds would benefit his organization The Heroes Journey, teaching veterans to find their voice and tell their own transition stories.

When American troops began to withdraw from Afghanistan over the summer, veterans were watching closely as the Taliban marched in. Veterans were scrambling to help those they worked with in Afghanistan find a way out of the country. Mann, who helped create the Task Force Pineapple rescue effort, said the Afghan collapse inspired a shift in priorities, deciding to make it available for free. Now, donations to the film will go to Task Force Pineapple, where the funds will help veterans overcome trauma from the collapse, as well as help America’s Afghan partners.

The movie is not just for veterans, Mann said.

“If you are a civilian watching this, I hope you will have a deeper emotional connection to the service of our veterans and their families beyond ‘thank you for your service,’” Mann said.

“For veterans, I hope they will see that what they did mattered, and they can let go of the pain. There is no requirement anywhere that to serve your country, you have to suffer afterward.”

Mann also described “Last Out” as a love letter to military and Gold Star families, calling them the glue of our nation. He said he hopes the film provides validation for their story and sacrifice.

It already has, according to those who shared their stories in a documentary about the making of the film.

Mann hopes at least 100,000 people watch “Last Out” over the Veterans Day weekend, and that each viewer shares it with others.

“We need to tell the story of the sacrifice of our veterans,” Mann said in a recent promotional video, “and we also need to tell the story of the relationships and love that our veterans have with the Afghan people, particularly as they come here to become our newest citizens.”

“Last Out” begins streaming on Veterans Day.