POWMIA.INFO

Soldier Accounted For From World War II (Brown, R.)

WASHINGTON - The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pvt. Roy Brown, Jr., 22, of Des Moines, Iowa, killed during World War II, was accounted for on May 13, 2019.

On Dec. 2, 1942, Brown was a member of Company I, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, when his unit was forced into intense engagement with Japanese forces in the vicinity of Soputa-Sanananda Track in the Australian Territory of Papua (present-day Papua New Guinea). Brown was reported missing and presumed dead when he could not be accounted for by his unit.

On Feb. 2, 1943, the remains of an unidentified American Soldier were interred at the U.S. Temporary Cemetery Sanananda #2. On April 6, 1943, the remains, designated Unknown X-72 were reinterred at Temporary Cemetery #1 at Soputa, then moved them to U.S. Armed Forces Finschhafen #2, where they were redesignated X-1086.

In 1947, the American Graves Registration service exhumed approximately 11,000 graves, including X-1086, and sent the remains to the Central Identification Point at the Manila Mausoleum in the Philippines. X-1086 could not be identified and were interred at Fort McKinley (now the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial).

In May 2017, Unknown X-1086 was disinterred, and the remains were sent to the DPAA laboratory in Offutt, Nebraska, for analysis.

To identify Brown’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Brown’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, an American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) site along with the others missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

DPAA is grateful to the ABMC for their partnership in this mission.

Brown will be buried in his hometown. The date has yet to be determined.

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

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 call (703) 699-1420.

Brown’s personnel profile can be viewed at
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000Xg70EAC