The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced this week that Army Pvt. Charles Andrews, 25, of Rochester, New York, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 6, 2020.
In December 1944, Andrews was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Brandenburg, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was declared missing in action on Dec. 4.
Andrews could not be recovered because of the on-going fighting, and his status was changed to killed in action on Jan. 29, 1945.
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 Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Andrews’ remains. He was declared non-recoverable in 1951.
While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-5463 Neuville, recovered just southwest of Brandenberg in 1947 possibly belonged to Andrews. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in May 2019 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.
Related
To identify Andrews’ remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Andrews’ name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margarten, Netherlands, 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.
Andrews will be buried Aug. 28, 2021, in his hometown.
Related
