Capt. Lorenza Conner, MIA Vietnam remains identified

Remains of Vietnam veteran to be returned
Wednesday, October 08, 2008

The remains of a Cartersville man killed during the Vietnam War have been identified and will be returned to his hometown for burial.

The funeral for Capt. Lorenza Conner of the U.S. Air Force will be held Oct. 25 in Cartersville.
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Mission to inform families continues at Randolph's Missing Persons Branch


by Thomas Warner
Staff Writer

9/12/2008 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Rains fell, finally, over this parched region on a recent morning as Master Sgt. Susan Williams continued her pursuit, inside her Air Force Personnel Center office, of information to pass on to families of those unaccounted for from past U.S. military engagements.

Sergeant Williams is at least able to share new findings more often than rain falls here, but as time passes, families mull the prospect their loved ones could be gone forever.

"We don't ever want families to forget that we will never stop searching until everyone is accounted for ... everyone is home," Sergeant Williams said.

The Missing Persons Branch at Randolph has a unique raison d'etre or reason for being; serving as a liaison to family members of Air Force members who remain unaccounted for.

While more than 88,000 servicemembers from all branches remain unaccounted for since World War II, there have been more than 1,400 people located, discovered and brought home by government-sponsored agencies.

In recent decades, DNA research advancements have been tied directly to positive identifications of remains discovered at war-time excavation sites. Maternal relatives of service members can offer DNA samples that are used, with new-age mitochondrial analyses, in conjunction with other evidence, to determine if the remains are indeed those of lost U.S. servicemembers.

The most recent Air Force recovery of a person lost during wartime occurred less than a month ago. Capt. Lorenza Conner had been unaccounted for since 1967 when, as a 24-year-old pilot, his F-4 Phantom jet was shot down over North Vietnam. Captain Conner's remains have now been positively identified and are in the process of being returned to his family in Georgia.
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http://www.randolph.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123114242