WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Navy Reserve Lt. j.g. Ralph C. Dupont, 21, of Daytona, Florida, killed during World War II, was accounted for June 10, 2025.
Dupont's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the fall of 1944, Dupont was assigned to the Fighting Squadron 36 and Fighting Squadron 18, USS Intrepid, in the Pacific Theatre. He was reportedly killed in action on Oct. 12, after an air battle with Japanese fighters near Taien Airfield, Formosa, known today as Taiwan. Subsequent searches for his remains were unsuccessful, and Dupont was declared nonrecoverable.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Service was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel. On April 2, 1946, the AGRS recovered a set of remains, later designated X-248, from Kaiken, Osono Village, Taien County, Taiwan, three miles from Taien Airfield. Following unsuccessful attempts to identify the remains, they were declared unidentifiable and buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In 2023, Dupont’s next of kin shared their own research with DPAA, believing that there was a correlation between X-248, prompting an investigation. DPAA exhumed the remains from the Punchbowl on April 6, 2025, and accessioned them into the DPAA Laboratory for further analysis.
To identify Dupont’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Dupont’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in the Philippines, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Dupont will be buried in Saint Augustine, Florida on a date yet to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Navy Service Casualty office at (800) 443-9298.
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.
Read Dupont's initial ID announcement here: Dupont.