Remains of WWII Soldier from Indiana Identified Nearly 79 Years After His Death

Gene F. Walker will be buried in San Diego in early 2024, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

The remains of a soldier killed during World War II at age 27 were identified by military scientists after nearly 79 years.

On Wednesday, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that it had identified the remains of U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Gene F. Walker of Richmond, Indiana, and that he "was accounted for" in July of this year.

The commander of an M4 Sherman tank was in Hücheln, Germany, in November 1944 when he was believed to have been killed "instantaneously" after being hit by an 88-mm anti-tank round while battling German forces, officials said.

"The surviving crew bailed out of the tank, but when they regrouped later were unable to remove Walker from the tank due to heavy fighting," the DPPA noted in a release. "The War Department issued a presumptive finding of death in April 1945."

Initial efforts to locate Walker in the Hücheln area in September 1948 were unsuccessful, the DPPA noted, adding that "there were no reports of deceased American servicemembers in the area."

A DPAA historian later identified his remains, which were recovered from a burned-out tank in December 1944, while studying "unresolved American losses" in Hücheln, per the release. The remains were then exhumed from the Henri-Chapelle U.S. Military Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium, in 2021 and sent to the DPAA.

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

A rosette will now be placed next to Walker's name at the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, and his remains will be buried in San Diego, California in early 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," the agency noted.

A 1944 obituary, cited by WTHR, noted at the time that Walker was survived by his wife and a daughter whom he never met.

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