Lizana soldier missing in WWII accounted for after almost 80 years
HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - A Lizana soldier that was missing in World War II is finally accounted for after almost 80 years.
The announcement came Thursday afternoon from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that Army Pvt. Andrew J. Ladner was accounted for on July 9, 2021.
In the fall of 1942, Ladner was assigned to the 126th infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, however, Ladner was killed in the initial assault. He was reportedly buried 26 yards west of the road the unit was blockading.
Following the war, investigators could not find any evidence of Ladner. He was declared non-recoverable Jan. 24, 1950.
In April 1943, remains of an unidentified U.S. Soldier, found near the area of the Huggins Roadblock, was buried in a temporary U.S. cemetery in Soputa.
Between 1995 and 2012, DPAA predecessor organizations recovered three men from the Huggins Roadblock area, but found no trace of Ladner.
Ladner’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in the Philippines, along with others still missing from WWII.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
He will be buried in Gulfport, Mississippi. The date has yet to be determined.
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