Washington –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army First Lieutenant Herman J. Sundstad, 26, of Perley, Minnesota, killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 24, 2024.
In the summer of 1944, Sundstad was a member of the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), also known as Merrill’s Marauders. On June 5, Sundstad’s unit, referred to as “Task Force Galahad”, was engaged with Japanese forces in the Battle of Myitkyina, in Burma. Historical records of Sundstad’s assigned unit were lost, but he was believed to be a member of 3rd Battalion. At the time of his loss, 3rd Battalion was engaging an overwhelming enemy force near the village of Namkwi. The exact circumstances of his death were not recorded, and his remains were not accounted for during or after the war.
In the fall of 1944, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel recovered a set of unknown remains, designated X-75 Kalaikunda, in the vicinity of Myitkyina. The remains were examined at U.S. Military Cemetery at Kalaikunda, India, but investigators were unable to scientifically identify them. X-75, and other Unknowns from Myitkyina, were transferred and interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In 2021, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-75 from the Punchbowl and transferred the remains to the DPAA laboratory for scientific analysis.
To identify Sundstad’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Sundstad’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines, along with the others missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Sundstad will be buried in Lafayette, California, on Nov. 11, 2024.
For family and funeral information, call the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission, and the Department of Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.
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 or find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Sundstad’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001EccVoEAJ.