need assistance with designating an uncle who was KIA in WWii

Question

My uncle was Missing in Action over the Pacific Theater in 1945.  He received the Purple Heart and Air Medal and is on the WWll Roll of Honor. He was with the 869th Bomber Squadron, 497th Bomber Group, Very Heavy. Not sure what the next step is - I put him in a category of KIA but it is red.  Is there a better way to do this?

Answer 1

Lynn,

here are some categories you can add

[[Category: Died in Military Service, United States of America, World War II]]

[[Category: Missing in Action ]]

[[Category: Purple Heart]]

Comments

Died in Military service is for death other than in combat, from wounds, disease or while POW, i.e. heart attack, car/plane crash, etc.

if he went missing while on a aircraft mission/ship tour (usually submarines) overdue/presumed lost, after a period of time they are usually changed to reflect killed in action.

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Most times they are changed to KIA, but I have seen some that are still to this day listed as MIA.  I concur though regarding against using the "Died while in military service."

Answer 2

Lynn,

Regarding "Category:Missing in Action", there's a general format: "Missing in Action, <country>, <war>.

You might want to use "Category:Missing in Action, World War II" and get in touch with Keith McDonald to create an appropriate category for those missing in action over the Pacific. This is very important because there should be category(es) for the many killed/missed in action in the sea during the different wars, if it was in international waters <country> wouldn't be suitable.

Hope this may be of help.

Comments

should be [[Category: Missing in Action, United States of America, World War II]]

the country is country of service, not place went missing, killed, wounded, etc.location of status should be explained in the biography

if declared dead as a result of being missing, instead of missing category, use

[[Category: Killed in Action, United States of America, World War II]]

the missing in action information should be listed in the biography.

Answer 3

you can add [[Category: Air Medal]]

i created [[Category: 497th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy), United States Army Air Forces, World War II]] so you can add that

at this time, we are not creating creating categories for units that make up the groups, i.e. no squadrons,.