Two More Accounted For

Defense MIA/POW Accounting Agency

Soldier Accounted for from WWII

U.S. Army Pfc. Hood E. Cole

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pfc. Hood E. Cole, 26, of Atlanta, Georgia, killed during World War II, was accounted for Feb. 22, 2023.

In January 1945, Cole was assigned to L Company, 3^rd Battalion, 276^th Infantry Regiment, 70^th Infantry Division. On Jan. 14, Cole was killed in action when his unit was attacked by German forces near Baerenthal, France. At some point during the fighting, Cole was killed, but historical records do not indicate exactly where. Due to the fighting, his body was unable to be immediately recovered.

Beginning in 1947, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, searched the area around Baerenthal. None of the investigations uncovered any leads regarding the disposition of Cole’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable on May 11, 1951.

DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Baerenthal and found that X-9441 and X-9442 Frankfurt Mausoleum, buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in in Neupré, Belgium, could be associated with Cole. X-9441 and X-9442 were disinterred in April 2018 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.

To identify Cole’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and dental analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Cole’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery in Dinozé, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Cole was buried on January 15, 2024, in Canton, Georgia.

 

Soldier Accounted for from WWII

U.S. Army Pvt. Homer J. Mitchell

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. Homer J. Mitchell, 20, of Portales, New Mexico, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 24, 2023.

In November 1944, Mitchell was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division. His battalion had been tasked with holding defensive positions in the Pachten Forest near Dillingen, Germany, when he was reported killed in action on Dec. 10 by enemy artillery fire. His body could not be evacuated due to intense fighting against heavily reinforced German forces. American commanders eventually ordered the regiment to withdraw, but many casualties were nonrecoverable due to the intensity of the mortar and artillery strikes.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Pachten Forest area between 1946 and 1950 but were unable to recover or identify Mitchell’s remains. He was officially declared Killed in Action in November 1951.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Pachten Forest area in 2018, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-3212, recovered in Feb. 1946, possibly belonged to Mitchell. The remains, which had been interred in the United States Military Cemetery (now Brittany American Cemetery), an American Battle Monuments Commission site in St. James, France, in 1950, were disinterred in August 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification.

To identify Mitchell’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as dental and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Mitchell’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Lorraine American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in St. Avold, France, 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.

Mitchell will be buried in Portales, New Mexico, on April 26, 2024.

 

DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and to the U.S. Army Regional Mortuary-Europe/Africa for their partnership in this mission. DPAA would also like to thank Mr. Chris Seiwert and Mr. Hans-Peter Jung for their assistance with historical and battlefield information vital to DPAA’s research of the fighting at the Pachten Forest and for Mitchell’s case.

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, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Category: No Longer Missing