The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Pfc. Leonard E. Adams, 25, of Dana, Indiana, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 20, 2022.
In January 1945, Adams was assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. Elements of the unit were supporting five companies attempting to secure terrain near Reipertswiller, France, when they were surrounded by German forces while being pounded by artillery and mortar fire. The surrounded companies were given the order to attempt a break-out on Jan. 20, but only two men made it through German lines. The rest were either captured or killed. Adams was among those killed, but his body could not be recovered because of the fighting.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, searched the area around Reipertswiller, finding 37 unidentified sets of American remains, but it was unable to identify any of them as Adams. He was declared non-recoverable on May 4, 1951.
DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Reipertswiller, and found that Unknown X-6372 Neuville, buried at Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, could be associated with Adams. X-6372 was disinterred in July 2021 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.
To identify Adams’ remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Adams’ name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Dinozé, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Adams will be buried in Radcliff, Kentucky on a date yet to be determined.
