Press Release | Nov. 15, 2024

Airman Accounted For From World War II (Hop, Yuen.)

WASHINGTON –

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Force Staff Sgt. Yuen Hop, 20, of Sebastopol, California, killed during World War II, was accounted for June 18, 2024.

Hop’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.

In late 1944, Hop was assigned to the 368th Bombardment Squadron, 306th Bombardment Group, 1st Bombardment Division, 8th Air Force, in the European Theater. On December 29, Hop, a waist gunner onboard a B-17G “Flying Fortress” became missing in action when his plane was hit by heavy anti-aircraft fire while on a bombing mission to Bingen, Germany. All crewmembers were able to bail out of the stricken aircraft, and only one airman was found dead by German forces near the crash site. Five men were captured and processed into the German prisoner of war (POW) camp system, ultimately surviving the war. Hop and two other crewmembers were unaccounted for, and there was no record of them being held as POWs.

In 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, began investigating several crash sites from downed aircraft of the Bingen air raid. Local German citizens were interviewed, and several accounts were recorded seeing American troops landing by parachutes. One airman was recovered by a local civilian who took him in and provided aid, but the airman was ultimately taken into custody by German military authorities. Hop and the third missing airman were not accounted for. Investigations continued for several years, but by April 1950 AGRC exhausted all efforts to recover these missing men and issued a recommendation they be declared non-recoverable.

In 2013, DPAA researchers working in collaboration with local Germans recovered documents from the state archive at Koblenz, which appeared to contain information on the loss of three captured airmen. These documents referenced a War Crimes case (12-1254) which indicated Hop was captured and killed by German SS troops near the town of Kamp-Bornhofen, and buried in the local cemetery there. Neither Hop, nor his two missing crewmates were ever officially registered as POWs, which explains why American investigators were unable to ascertain their fate during or after the war.

Between May 2021 and August 2022, DPAA teams began excavation of a suspected burial site in the Kamp-Bornhofen Cemetery, where the three airmen are believed to be buried. Under the supervision and direction of two Scientific Recovery Experts, the team recovered possible osseous remains and associated materials. These items were transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis and identification.

To identify Hop’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Hop’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Hop’s funeral location and date have 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 their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa,

https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.

Hop’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XeSCEA0.