KINGSTON, Tenn. (AP) – Roughly 75 years ago, U.S. Army soldier Frank Delaney was killed in a foxhole during a fierce artillery battle in Germany during World War II.
His remains were never identified and the 24-year-old from Tennessee was deemed unrecoverable. But now, thanks to a German citizen, investigative persistence and DNA testing, Delaney is no longer a missing man.
Department of Defense officials said Monday that the remains of Army Pfc. William Frank Delaney, of Kingston, Tennessee, have been identified. Two military representatives visited the home of a relative of Delaney’s in Russellville, Kentucky, and informed him of the identification, said Frankie Copeland, Delaney’s niece.
Officials said the 24-year-old Delaney was fighting with the 4th Infantry Division when his battalion launched an artillery strike against German soldiers near Grosshau in the Hurtgen Forest on Nov. 22, 1944. An artillery shell struck Delaney’s foxhole and he was killed.
Delaney was among hundreds of soldiers missing after combat in the Hurtgen Forest. After the war, investigators with the American Graves Registration Command searched for remains in Grosshau.