WWII veteran from McDowell County officially accounted for
BRADSHAW, WV (WVNS) — A World War II veteran from McDowell County has officially been accounted for and will soon be laid to rest in the Mountain State.
According to a press release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), U.S. Army Private 1st Class Mose E. Vance, 21, of Bradshaw, West Virginia was officially accounted for on January 5, 2024.
Private Vance was attached to the 2nd Battalion of Company F within the 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division fighting in Europe in 1945. Just before midnight on New Year’s Eve in 1944, German forces launched Operation NORDWIND, a major offensive operation within the Vosges Mountains in France.
The attack pushed through allied forces along the French-German border creating a 40-mile wide front for the following battle. Over the next few weeks, Company F was assigned to a 7-mile section in Wildenguth, France. During fighting on January 11, 1945, Private 1st Class Mose E. Vance was shot and killed.
Private Vance’s body could not be recovered at the time due to how intense the fighting was.
The War Department issued a “Report of Death” for Vance in December 0f 1945 after no remains were recovered and no record of him being captured by German forces was found.
In 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) began looking for unaccounted American military members in the area where Vance was supposed to have been shot. During the search, mulitple sets of remains were recovered. One of these sets of remains was not able to be identified at the time. In 1949, the remains were then sent to the U.S. Military Cemetery in St. Avold, France, now known as Lorraine American Cemetery.
In 2022, after DPAA researchers conducted in-depth research, the unidentified remains were exhumed and transferred to the DPA Lab for further analysis. Scientists continued to use circumstantial and anthropological evidence to further conclude the remains belonged to Private Vance. Furthermore, members of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
The studies concluded the remains did indeed belong to Private 1st Class Mose E. Vance.
While Vance’s name is etched into the Walls of the Missing at the Epinal American Cemetery in France, a marker will be placed next to his name to show he has been accounted for.
Vance will be properly laid to rest in the Paynesville area of McDowell County.
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