WASHINGTON, DC (WLOX) - A World War II soldier from Mississippi will finally be laid to rest in his home state exactly 66 years after he died. Army Cpl. Judge C. Hellums died on the battlefield in France in 1944.
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced Wednesday that the remains of Hellums and another serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
Army Pfc. Lawrence N. Harris, of Elkins, West Virginia, will be buried on Oct. 8 in Clarksburg, WV. Army Cpl. Judge C. Hellums, of Paris, Mississippi, will be buried on Oct. 9 in Randolph, MS.
In late September 1944, their unit, the 773rd Tank Battalion, was clearing German forces out of the Parroy Forest near Lunéville. On Oct. 9, 1944, in the final battle for control of the region, Hellums, Harris and three other soldiers were attacked by enemy fire in their M-10 Tank Destroyer. Harris and Hellums were reported to have been killed, and evidence at the time indicated the remains of the men had been destroyed in the attack and were neither recovered nor buried near the location.
In November 1946, a French soldier working in the Parroy Forest found debris associated with an M-10 vehicle and human remains, which were turned over to the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC). The remains were buried as unknowns in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.
A year later, the AGRC returned to the Parroy Forest to conduct interviews and search for additional remains. Investigators noted at that time that all remains of U.S. soldiers had reportedly been removed and that the soldiers were likely buried elsewhere as unknowns.
In 2003, a French citizen exploring the Parroy Forest discovered human remains and an identification bracelet engraved with Hellums' name. The information was eventually sent to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC).
In April 2006, the man turned over the items to a JPAC team working in Europe. Historians at DPMO and JPAC continued their research on the burials at the Ardennes Cemetery, and drew a correlation to those unknowns that had been removed from the 1944 battle site.
In early 2008, JPAC disinterred these remains and began their forensic review. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons for both men and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of each soldier's relatives in the identification of their remains.
At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 72,000 remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, call (703) 699-1169 or visit the DPMO website at www.dtic.mil/dpmo.
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