Photo By Gen. Rajagau Tuan Lante | Gregory Gardner, chief of the U.S Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflicts...... read more read more
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FORT KNOX, Ky. – Marge Hop Wong was in the third grade when her brother Staff Sgt. Yuen Hop, who became a waist gunner on a B-17G Flying Fortress, left to fight in World War II. Hop went missing Dec. 29, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge. He was just 20 years old.
Wong never stopped yearning to find out what happened to her brother and the U.S. Army never stopped searching for him.
“My aunt has always been interested in all of her siblings. She was the youngest of eight,” Ellen Yee said. “She had three brothers that were in the service and two of them returned.”
Continuing the search for Soldiers and Army Air Force Airmen listed as prisoners of war or missing in action is part of the Army’s Warrior Ethos that demands no fallen comrades are ever left behind, no matter how long it takes to find them.
The Battle of the Bulge was fought in brutal winter conditions and is considered the single deadliest battle of World War II in which some 19,000 American service members were killed and 75,000 were wounded.
It is estimated that more than 1,000 Soldiers and Airmen remain missing from the Battle of the Bulge alone. Because the area of the battle spread out over Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany finding the missing remains an arduous task, said Gregory Gardner, chief of the U.S Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflicts Repatriation Branch, or PCRB.
“There are a little over 500 unaccounted for Soldiers from the Vietnam War, from the Korean War there are a little over 5,000, and for World War II there are over 37,000, Soldiers and Army Air Force Airmen” he said.
Because of the passage of time, identification is difficult. Also, many Soldiers and Airmen from that era were immigrants and some Families returned to their homeland following the end of the war making finding a relative a near impossible task, Gardner said.
“We don't give up on things because they're hard,” he said. “It's just we’ve got to keep working.”
Finding the missing
Some 80 years after his death, Hop’s remains were identified June 18, 2024. Identification was a complex process that involved collaboration between the PCRB, and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA.
The PCRB team works tirelessly to collect evidence that includes gathering DNA from qualified Family members, genealogical research, and historical analysis that aides the DPAA in connecting Families with their long-lost loved ones from World War II, as well as the Korean and Vietnam wars, Gardner said.
Established in the 1990s, the PCRB is the Army’s liaison to the DPAA, which is tasked with recovering the remains of missing personnel, listed as either prisoners of war or missing in action from past wars and conflicts that the U.S. was involved in. The DPAA uses a combination of historical records and science to identify remains after they are unearthed in locations around the world, some of them extremely remote. Material evidence found at those site including weapons, aircraft debris, or even personal belongings are used in the identification process.
Once the DPAA identifies a Soldier’s or Army Air Forces Airmen’s remains, they will notify the PCRB, Gardner said.
“The Armed Forces Medical examiner actually makes the identification, they will then notify us,” he said. “And my identification section will notify the Family.”
A member of the PCRB then travels to meet with the Family for an identification briefing. All the relevant information about the case is compiled in a book that includes historical information about the battle in which the Soldier was lost, medical, dental and DNA reports as well as how the remains were recovered, Gardner said.
He traveled to California in mid-November to give an identification briefing to the Family of Staff Sgt. Yuen Hop.
“I was so surprised how detailed everything was and that they were able to find and present it to the Family,” Ellen Yee said. “It was just so overwhelming, and I really appreciate what the Army and all the people have done for us.”
The Family is also grateful for the way Gardner presented the information about Hop’s case with such empathy to Wong, said Kimland Yee, Ellen Yee’s husband.
“What impressed me the most was not just the facts, but the way he presented it and the way he talked to our aunt and was very kind and made sure she understood everything,” he said.
The case of Staff Sgt. Yuen Hop
Hop’s parents immigrated from China to San Francisco, California, where his Family remains to this day.
According to DPAA records, Hop entered the U.S. Army Air Force from California and served in the 368th Bombardment Group, 306th Bombardment Squadron, 306th Bombardment Group, 1st Bombardment Division, 8th Air Force, in the European Theater.
“The 8th Air Force was on this mission on Dec. 29, 1944, in support of cutting off the German counterattack during the Battle of the Bulge,” Gardner said. “They sent over 800 aircraft – B17s, B24s. They had over 700 fighters protecting them – P51s, P47s. It was a huge, massive mission to try and cut off the Germans.”
Hop’s aircraft was hit by heavy anti-aircraft fire near Bingen, Germany, according to DPAA reports. All nine crewmembers bailed out and one was later found dead near the crash site. It is suspected his parachute failed to open. Five crewmembers were captured and processed into the Nazi prisoner of war camp system and were eventually returned to the U.S. Hop and two other crewmembers were unaccounted for and there was no record of them being held as prisoners of war.
“They were captured by the Germans, and they were moved about 60 km north on rail to Kamp-Bornhofen, Germany,” Gardner said. “The intent was to move them to a POW camp. They ended up at an SS unit that used prison camp labor from concentration camps to repair the rails damaged by the Allies. Because the bridges had been hit and the Germans couldn't get through with the train, the captured American Airmen were left there overnight.”
Sometime during the night, the three Airmen were killed. Although there is no evidence, Gardner said, it is suspected they were killed by one of the camp enforcers who worked with the Nazis.
“That individual killed the three of them and took their clothes, food, cigarettes, you name it,” he said. “They were buried in a cemetery near Kamp-Bornhofen.”
According to DPAA records, in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command, the organization charged with recovering American fallen personnel in the European Theater, began investigating several crash sites associated with the Bingen air raid. Additionally, local citizens were interviewed and several provided accounts of American Airmen landing by parachute. One Airman, who appeared to be Asian, was injured and a local citizen gave him aid but he was ultimately taken into custody by the Nazis.
After several years of an exhaustive investigation and search, in April 1950, the American Graves Registration Command recommended the three Airmen be declared non-recoverable, according to Army records.
Fast forward to 2013, according to DPAA records, German researchers working in collaboration with the DPAA recovered documents from a state archive in Koblenz, Germany, that contained information about three captured American Airmen. The documents referenced a war crimes case that indicated Hop was captured and killed near Kamp-Bornhofen and buried in the local cemetery. Because Hop and the other two missing crewmembers were never registered as POWs their fate could not be ascertained by the American Graves Registration Command following the war.
DPAA teams began excavation of the suspected burial site between May 2021 and August 2022, and recovered possible osseous remains and associated material evidence. The remains and evidence were transferred to a DPAA forensic lab for analysis and identification, according to DPAA records.
Meanwhile, Wong and her sister Doris, attended a Family member briefing in San Jose, California, where they were told the location of their brother’s remains may have been found. The sisters provided DNA samples that were used in the identification process. That was more than six years ago, and Doris has since passed away, Ellen Yee said.
“We just thought this is so amazing that the Army found him and did all of this for us,” she said. “I never knew of any service like that until this came up.”
The DPAA laboratory is the largest skeletal identification facility in the world. It is staffed by more than 150 anthropologists, archaeologists, forensic odontologists, and support personnel. The DPAA has three accredited laboratory locations – two in Hawaii at Hickam Field and Pearl Harbor and one at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
According to DPAA records, Hop’s remains were identified through anthropological analysis, as well as mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.
Closure for Families
A photo of Hop smiling proudly dressed in his bomber jacket and aviator goggles was an ever-present fixture above the mantel in his parent’s home.
“When Ellen and I first started dating in 1964 and I met her grandparents, I remember how sad it was when I asked about that picture on the mantel,” Kimland Yee said. “They told me he was killed in the war, but he was missing.”
Wong and the rest of the Family are relieved to now know what happened to their loved one lost so long ago.
“We've known that that he was killed in the war, but I think the closure is that now we know what happened to him and that he's being brought back,” Kimland Yee said. “His remains are being brought back. I think it is a big relief and it's just amazing that they were able to find him after all these years. I've known about the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency through the news, but it just amazed me that they were able to find my wife’s uncle after 80 years.”
Hop’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France, along with others who remain missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to Hop’s name to indicate he has been accounted for.
“We as grandkids, we all thought our uncle had died when his aircraft went down during the war,” Ellen Yee said. “We didn't know anything else about it. We didn't know that he actually made it to the ground safely and passed away later.”
Hop’s remains will be buried at the Golden Gate Veterans Cemetery, San Bruno, California, where one of his brother’s is buried. Date of interment is yet to be determined.
“It was good to get the story about my wife’s uncle and his service because he was a real hero,” Kimland Yee said.
One of the challenges in the identification process is the lack of DNA reference samples from Family members of those still unaccounted for, according to the DPAA. Any person who is related to an unaccounted for American service member is encouraged to contact their service’s casualty office to ensure there is a DNA reference sample on file for that service member.
For more information about the PCRB, visit the U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s website at https://www.hrc.army.mil/content/1993&search%3D1. For more information about the DPAA, visit www.dpaa.mil.
| Date Taken: | 12.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.23.2024 12:28 |
| Story ID: | 488235 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 41 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, HRC’s Past Conflicts Repatriation Branch strives to connect Families with fallen, by Maria McClure, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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