WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Navy Reserve Ensign Eugene E. Mandeberg, 23, of Detroit, Michigan, killed during World War II, was accounted for on March 4, 2025.
Mandeberg's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the summer 1945, Mandeberg was a member of the Fighting Squadron 88, USS Yorktown. On Aug. 15, while returning from a mission near Atsugi Airfield, Honshu, Japan, his formation was engaged with enemy fighter planes. Four of the six U.S. aircraft failed to return to the USS Yorktown and Navy officials reported Mandeberg as Missing in Action. His remains were not recovered or identified after the war.
On March 20, 1946, U.S. personnel retrieved remains known as X-341 Yokohama #1 from the Myoho-ji Temple in Yokohama, Japan. These remains were believed to belong to an American Grumman F6F pilot who crashed there on Aug. 15, 1945. The wreckage was linked to the USS Yorktown, but the fragmentary state of the remains prevented a positive identification. The family chose to have X-341 interred as a World War II Unknown, a decision honored by Navy officials at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
On Nov. 15, 2019, DPAA exhumed X-341 and accessioned the remains into the DPAA Laboratory for scientific analysis.
To identify Mandeberg’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial and Nuclear Single Nucleotide Polymorphism DNA analysis, and mitochondrial genome DNA sequencing.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Mandeberg’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
Mandeberg was buried on Sept. 14, 2025, in Livonia, Michigan.
For family and funeral information, contact the Navy Casualty Office at (800) 443-9298.
DPAA is grateful to the ABMC and the United States Navy for their partnership in this mission.
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.
Mandeberg’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XgIZEA0.
Read Mandeberg's initial ID announcement here: Mandeberg.