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U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Melvin Meyer

U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Melvin Meyer (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

Crew members of the USS Oklahoma and aircraft shot down during World War II were among 17 service members recently accounted for by the Defense Department agency tasked with recovering troops listed as missing in action or prisoners of war.

A dozen of the identifications announced in January by the Hawaii-based Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency were associated with WWII, four were killed in Korea and one died in Vietnam, according to agency news releases.

The remains include two sailors serving on Battleship Row during Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941.

Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Herman Schmidt, 28, of Sheridan, Wyo., and Warrant Officer Machinist Daryl Goggin, 34, of Everett, Wash., died aboard the Oklahoma along with 427 other crew members, the agency said.

Schmidt was identified Jan. 13, 2021, and Goggin on Oct. 10, 2015, DPAA announced last month.

Navy Cmdr. Frederick Schrader

Navy Cmdr. Frederick Schrader (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Carl Nesbitt

U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Carl Nesbitt (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

Navy Cmdr. Frederick Schrader, 31, who led Carrier Air Group 11 on the USS Hornet, was piloting an F6F-5 Hellcat shot down over what is now Taiwan, Oct. 13, 1944, the agency said.

Schrader, of Lawrenceville, Ill., was accounted for on Sept. 27, according to a release.

The following were killed when their B-24 Liberator bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Romania on Aug. 1, 1943: U.S. Army Air Forces Tech Sgt. Harold Kretzer, 32, of Odin, Ill.; 1st Lt. James Deeds, 23, hometown unlisted; and 1st Lt. George Reuter, 25, hometown unlisted.

The remains of Reuter, the bomber’s navigator, were identified Jan. 10, according to DPAA. Deeds, the pilot, was accounted for on Jan. 3 and Kretzer, a gunner-engineer, on Aug. 23.

Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Carl Nesbitt, 23, of Lima, Ohio, and 1st Lt. Melvin Meyer, 25, of Pattonville, Mo., died May 29, 1944, when their B-17G Flying Fortress was attacked by enemy fighters during a “huge bombing mission” over Leipzig, Germany, DPAA said.

Both Nesbitt, the pilot, and Meyer, the bombardier, were accounted for on Sept. 9, according to the agency.

U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Porter Pile

U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Porter Pile (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Porter Pile, 24, of Harlingen, Texas, was navigating a B-24 Liberator when it was shot down over Hesse, Germany, Sept. 27, 1944, during a bombing mission that “resulted in the rapid loss of 25 Liberators,” DPAA said.

Pile’s remains were accounted for on Nov. 28, according to the agency.

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