The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recently announced that Army Pvt. Charles Andrews, 25, of Rochester, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 6, 2020.
In December 1944, Andrews was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Brandenburg, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was declared missing in action on December 4. Andrews could not be recovered because of the on-going fighting, and his status was changed to killed in action on January 29, 1945.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Andrews’ remains. He was declared non-recoverable in 1951.
While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-5463 Neuville, recovered just southwest of Brandenberg in 1947 possibly belonged to Andrews. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in May 2019 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.
To identify Andrews’ 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.
Andrews’ name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margarten, Netherlands, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Andrews will be buried August 28, 2021, in his hometown. For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at 800-892-2490.
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.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or find them on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa and https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Andrews’ personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XfErEAK.
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