Army Seeks DNA From Nevadan To Aid In Identification Of Remains

By Chuck N. Baker 

(Las Vegas) — The remains of military combatants whose lives were lost while serving in the military are saved and documented as much as possible for future identification. It’s only in recent years that identification has been made possible by the use of deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA for short. It’s a chemical made up of two long molecules, arranged in a spiral that carries genetic information. It has all the instructions that a living organism needs to grow, reproduce and function. And it codes genetic information for the transmission of inherited traits. Interestingly, the chemical DNA was first discovered in 1869, but its role in genetic inheritance was not demonstrated until 1943. And it’s only in very recent years that it has been able to be isolated in individuals in such a way as to trace family members going back several generations.  

While DNA is regularly referred to in numerous TV crime shows and motion pictures as a tool to identify suspects, it plays a very definite role in identifying soldiers whose remains are otherwise unidentified. Recently, a Las Vegas widow was contacted concerning such identification by the Department of the Army. 

“I was surprised when I was contacted by the US. Army,” said Marti Apenbrink. She was informed that remains of several soldiers who had been captured by the Japanese during WWII had recently been discovered, and possible relatives were being asked to submit samples of their DNA in order to ascertain familial genetic confirmations. Some of the remains could be those of Apenbrink’s uncle Joseph Lynch, but it will be quite some time to determine if that’s the case or not. 

Lynch was Apenbrink’s mother’s brother. According to Apenbrink, when Lynch was in the Army, as a little girl her half sister Lucia Gannett imagined he was the original “G.I. Joe.” Lynch was one of the defenders of Bataan, and after fighting on Corregidor, he experienced the infamous Death March. The “March” forced more than 70,000 POWs to walk some 60 miles while enduring severely inhumane conditions. Many of the men died en route.  

Lynch was initially assigned to the Army Air Force, 7th Material Squadron, 5th Air Base Group, and later to the 84th Bombing Squadron in the Philippines. While serving with the latter, he was taken prisoner. It was later reported that he had been transferred to several Japanese “hell ships.” One such ship was the freighter Enoura Maru which had been initially used to transport horses. Later, POWs were crammed into the manure-filled bottom holes that the horses had been kept in. According to news reports, the horses had been fed oats. Many of the starved POWs scratched through the animal droppings in search of any oats that had not been digested. The ship, one of three which was not outwardly identified as carrying POWs, was bombed while docked at Formosa (now Taiwan). Out of 1,600 POWs, between bombings and being held in barbaric camp conditions, only 403 survived to liberation in September, 1945.  

Once Apenbrink agreed to provide her DNA, she received correspondence from the Operations Division of the Past Conflict Reparations Branch, Casualty and Mortuary Affairs, located at Fort Knox, Kentucky. They sent collection instruments from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, and a Family Reference Collection Form. The items came with a pre-addressed, prepaid FedEx envelope. 

“The two-page family reference collection form was very detailed,” Apenbrink said. “It asked for all types of personal identification, my family relationship with Joseph, and names and addresses of any other family members that I had information about.” Another form explained collection instructions for taking a DNA sample. Collection begins when a swab is removed from its sterile tube and dragged across the inside of the person’s right cheek. Additional details explain more procedural instructions. The swab and the completed forms are then inserted in a supplied envelope to be returned to the Army’s central identification laboratory.  

The Army is very specific in that despite its best efforts, it may never be able to account for all the missing, and in fact Lynch’s remains have not necessarily been found. An Army spokesman said, “Donating a DNA sample helps with overall accounting and identification efforts, not only for one’s own family member, but also for other casualties. Many family members have worked toward, and waited years, for answers to resolve their cases.” 

Holding back emotions, Apenbrink said, “I never knew my Uncle Joe. But I had been told about him while I was growing up. And knowing of his service and sacrifice to the nation, it would give me great happiness if his remains can be identified and given a proper burial.”