Kentucky soldier killed in WWII to be buried in home county next month

Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, October 24, 2023

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A Russell County soldier killed in action during World War II and whose remains were not identified until earlier this year, will be returning to his home county for burial next month.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Monday that U. S. Army Private First Class (PFC) Henry C. Wade, 24, of Decatur, killed during World War II, was accounted for on May 11, 2023.

“We are so grateful to those who are working diligently to identify our unknown heroes from the Second World War,” said Gov. Andy Beshear. “While it is heartbreaking to learn about the loss of another Kentuckian, it is also healing to be able to finally bring them home.”

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According to DPAA, Wade was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, as an infantryman.  In November 1944, his unit was engaged in battle with German forces near the Germeter-Hürtgen Road, where they encountered heavy resistance.  Fighting raged for several days, during which Wade was killed in action.  Due to the tactical situation, his remains were not immediately recovered. He was declared non-recoverable in December 1951.

After the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe and conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen Forest area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, possibly belonged to an American soldier killed near the town of Hürtgen in November 1944. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, in 1949, were disinterred in June 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification.

To identify Wade’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as circumstantial evidence.  Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner used DNA analysis.

Wade will be buried Nov. 29, 2023, in Russell Springs, Kentucky, and Gov. Beshear will order flags lowered to half-staff in honor of Wade on that day.