WWII Army Forward Pages

The Honor List of Dead and Missing for the

STATE OF _____________

is published by the War Department for the information of public officials, the press, the radio and interested organizations. It contains the latest and most complete data available on all military personnel who were killed or died, or became and remained missing, between the President's declaration of unlimited national emergency on May 27, 1941, and the cut-off date of this report, January 31, 1946, and includes both battle and non-battle dead or missing. The complete work, of which this volume is a part, contains about 300,000 names of men and women who gave their lives while serving in the Army of the United States.

   As in any work of this scope, errors will occur. Careful checks by the Casualty Branch of the Adjutant General's Office and by Machine Records Units have reduced these errors to a minimum, but publication of this preliminary report at this time makes it inevitable that mistakes and omissions will be found herein. Use of the most advanced type of tabulating and recording machines has reduced the factor of human error to a minimum, but errata originally introduced into the machine cards will be reflected in the final lists. To cope with this possibility, all lists have been carefully proof-read after preparation. It is planned to publish a complete and final list of deaths at some time in the future, and errors discovered herein will be corrected in that list.

   The STATE OF (Name of State) contained (number) per cent of the population of the United States and possessions (excluding the Philippine Islands) in 1940 and contributed (number) per cent of the total number who entered the Army. Of these men and women of (Name of State) who went to war, (number) per cent failed to return. This figure represents (number) per cent of the Army’s total dead and missing.

   The number of missing persons is being reduced daily through operation of Army Search Teams in all theaters of operations.

   Under the provisions of Public Law 490, 77th Congress, as amended by Public Laws 848, 77th Congress, and 408, 78th Congress, changes of casualty status are currently being made. This law and its amendments provide for the payment of pay and allowances to missing persons, and for the administrative finding of death of those persons in whose cases there is an absence of presumptive proof of continued existence. The Secretary of War is empowered by the Congress to make such findings of death, and the Secretary's finding in such a case is equivalent to a legal statement that such a person is in fact dead. Wills are probated, insurance becomes payable, debts are settled and government gratuity benefits are paid on the basis of the administrative finding of death. Thus it becomes obvious that such findings must be made only with the greatest of care, if only because of the legal involvements, not to mention the effects of such findings on next-of-kin.

   Findings of death under Public Law 490 and its amendments are made in the cases of persons when—and only when—there is either conclusive proof that the person is dead or equally overwhelming evidence that under the circumstances the person could not have remained alive. These findings are made only after review and after a lapse of at least one year from the time of disappearance.

   Most of the persons listed herein as missing disappeared less than a year prior to January 31, 1946, the cut-off date mentioned above. As time passes the fate of some of these missing will become known and others will be declared dead in the absence of hope that they are living. A few—too small a number to be considered as a percentage of the missing—fall in to a third category: persons who intentionally deserted the service and are bending every effort to avoid repatriation. Cases of this type have been discovered in the past but the number of these cases is exceedingly small.

   The physical search for missing persons, which went on all during the war, has been expanded and extended since the collapse of enemy resistance. Experts in all fields of investigation and identification have been sent into areas where missing persons were last seen. Through conferences with local officials and clergyman and by means of checks of rosters and other military lists, the bodies of missing persons are being recovered and identified daily. Though the loss of official records, as at Corregidor in 1942 and during the Ardennes counteroffensive of 1944-45, has increased the difficulties encountered by search teams, the scope of the teams' work has been so broad in the past eight months (in the case of Japan) to one year (in Germany) that the War Department is reluctant to hold out hope to the next of kin that any missing personnel are still alive.

   Antwerp, Belgium, October 4, 1947 – Pallbearers of the United States Army, Navy, Air Forces and Marine Corps salute the symbolic Untied States Casket which rested in state during the farewell ceremony held in Antwerp's Grand' Plaza. To the right center waits the Belgium Army artillery caisson, with an attendant Belgium Army Honor Guard, which will carry the casket to Pier 21 for placing aboard the U.S. Army transport "Joseph V. Connelly." In the center background, standing at attention, is the Honor Guard detachment of the Belgium Air Force and in the right background is the Honor Guard detachment of Belgium Army troops. The symbolic casket, representing the U.S. dead of World War II, was selected at random from among the 5,600 included in the first shipment of United States World War II dead to be returned from Europe. Photo courtesy of the American Graves Registration Command.

   No civilians are included in this report. Red Cross personnel and other civilians serving with the Army became casualties during the War, but procedure for reporting civilian personnel differs from that for reporting military individuals.

   The following pages show a breakdown by counties and types of casualties, followed by a breakdown alphabetically by counties, the counties themselves being listed in alphabetical order.

   In the preparation of these lists, it was necessary to establish a set of criteria on which the proper location of each individual’s name would be determined. The following procedure was set up:

   (1) If the individual gave an address as his home when he entered the Army, his name is listed in the county in which this address was located.
   (2) If he (or she) gave no home address, but designated a beneficiary or next of kin – either of whom must be a relative in limited degrees of kinship – or in the absence of relatives an emergency addressee who may be a friend, his name will appear in the county in which the address of the beneficiary, next of kin or emergency addressee is located.
   (3) If neither home nor emergency address was given (this was the case in rare instances where aliens were without family or residence in this country) the county of the draft board of origin is the one in which he (or she) is listed.
   (4) In the case of certain Regular Army personnel who moved their homes from place to place according to the exigencies of the service, the only address available is "The Adjutant General", and these personnel will be listed in the District of Columbia booklet.
   (5) A very few cases exist in which none of these four criteria obtains. It is impossible to determine the county in these cases and such individuals are listed in some state volumes under "State at Large", a listing following the last county listing in the book. No instances have been found wherein it is impossible to locate a person as to state except as mentioned in (4) above.

   The lists which follow contain information as to individuals in the following order: name, Army serial number, grade and status of casualty. A word of explanation of methods of listing and symbols used follows:

   NAME: Because standardized usage for names in the Army, some individuals listed herein may not be shown under the name by which they were called in

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civilian life. For instance, a man listed herein as "Smith, William P." may have been known to his friends as "Paul Smith" because in civilian life he did not choose to use the name "William". In Army usage the first name is used in full and other given names follow in order as initials. Names prefixed with "Mc" are listed between names beginning "Ma" and those beginning "Me", and similarly names beginning "Mac" will be found after "Mabry" and before "Madison". Because of a peculiarity of the machines used in these tables, prefixed and hyphenated names do not always appear in strict alphabetical order, and absolute correctness in the order of alphabetizing names does not govern after the tenth letter of a name. However, for all practical purposes the names will be in alphabetical order and cases will be extremely rare where a name will be more than one or two lines out of place.

   ARMY SERIAL NUMBER: Because of the tremendous number of individuals who have passed through the army, serial numbers are given to prevent confusion. Using the name "William P. Smith" as above as an example, it was found that at the time of writing there were 84 men of this name in the Army, and several hundred men with the name "William Smith" without respect to initials. In attempting to identify one of this number much confusion could arise, and this is obviated by the use of a serial number.

   Serial Numbers are assigned with great care and according to a set of regulations. Consecutive serial numbers, for example, are not assigned to twins since this might cause confusions of identity between two persons with the same birth date and same general physical characteristics.

   Generally speaking, numbers fall into two broad categories: simple seven or eight digit numbers (in a few cases fewer digits) for male enlisted personnel, and prefixed serial numbers for other personnel. Regular enlisted men who entered service before the onset of Selective Service bear seven-digit or lower serial numbers, usually beginning with "6" or "7", as 6974426, Men who enlisted in the Army of the United States have eight-digit numbers beginning with "1", the second digit indicating the Service Command of origin. For example, the serial number 14066025 would indicate that the man enlisted in the Army of the United States in the Fourth Service Command (Southeastern U. S.), Men called into federally recognized National Guard service received eight-digit numbers beginning with "2", and the third digit representing the Service Command: 20107656 indicates a National Guardsman from New England (First Service Command). Men inducted or enlisted through Selective Service were given eight-digit numbers beginning with "3" or "4", the second digit representing the Service Command. The prefixed serial numbers for other than male enlisted personnel carry a designated letter: 0- (as in 0-1574257) for male commissioned officers; W- for male Warrant officers; T- for Flight officers of the Army Air Forces; L- for commissioned officers of the Women's Army Corps; V- for WAC Warrant officers; A- for WAC enlisted women; R- for Hospital Dietitians, and M- for Physical Therapy Aides.

   GRADE: This is synonymous with the misnomer "rank", and the abbreviations which may be found in this book are as follows: GEN, General (four star); LT G, Lieutenant General, (three star); M G, Major General, (two star); B G, Brigadier General, (one star); COL, Colonel; LT C, Lieutenant Colonel; MAJ, Major; CAPT, Captain; 1 LT, First Lieutenant; 2 LT, Second Lieutenant; C WO, Chief Warrant Officer; WOJG, Warrant Officer, Junior Grade; FL O, Flight Officer; AV C Aviation Cadet; M SG, Master Sergeant; 1 SG, First Sergeant; T SG, Technical Sergeant; S SG, Staff Sergeant; TEC3, Technician Third Grade; SGT, Sergeant; TEC4, Technician Fourth Grade; CPL, Corporal; TEC5, Technician Fifth Grade; PFC, Private First Class, and PVT, Private.

   TYPE OF CASUALTY: This is indicated by the symbol at the far right of each column. An individual who was killed in action, whether at the front or by enemy action in the rear areas, or if a prisoner of war, whether by air bombardment of his prison camp or by being shot while escaping, is designated "KIA." Persons who were wounded and later died are marked "DOW" –died of wounds. Those who suffered fatal battle INJURIES as opposed to WOUNDS, in combat or in combat areas, and died in a line-of-duty status, are designated "DOI" –died of injuries. Other line-of-duty deaths, such as from sickness, homicide, suicide or accidents outside combat areas (including training and maneuver deaths) are listed "DNB" –died non-battle. Individuals who were determined to be dead under Public Law 490 are designated "FOD" –finding of death. Missing persons are marked with the single letter "M".

[Website note: A Line-of-duty death: a military member death that DID NOT involve action(s) due to misconduct, willful negligence, self-inflicted injuries or a death occurring while member was AWOL.]

   Only those persons who died in a line-of-duty status are listed herein. Individuals who were not in line of duty at the time of their deaths are not so listed. Though personnel not in line of duty are not listed, failure to find in these lists the name of a person known to be dead should not be taken as prima-facie evidence that such a person died not in the line of duty.

   Because of the large number of names included in this work – the total for all states and territories will take up about 1,700 pages – it has been deemed impracticable to include the name and address of next of kin or to break down the residence units smaller than counties. Counties were selected as the unit of breakdown for two reasons: information media rarely circulated in areas smaller than counties, and draft boards are located on a county population basis. It was felt that coordination between newspapers and other media on the one hand and draft boards on the other, a coordination which has existed through nearly six years of Selective Service, could be achieved more easily in cases where questions as to identity arise than could coordination between newspapers and any larger instrumentality of the government.

   It should be pointed out that this work is published solely as a public service and in response to demands from interested persons. The possibility that these lists might fall into the hands of unscrupulous persons is inevitable, and it is pointed out that misuse of these lists for gain could redound only to the sorrow of the bereaved. While is it neither the policy nor the desire of the War Department to discuss the ways in which these lists will be used once they are released for publication, it is the sincere hope of the War Department that persons responsible for their dissemination will be governed by good taste and consideration for the feelings of the next of kin.

   Patriotic organizations will find these lists of value in establishing or checking honor rolls in their communities. In this connection, it should be emphasized again that these lists are preliminary and will one day be superseded by a list which can be considered final. Changes in status may occur between the time of publication of these lists and preparation of new ones, and actuarial tables indicate that new name will be added. In some rare cases name of persons already dead may have been eliminated inadvertently from these lists.

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Top Photo: "World War II American military cemetery "St. Mere Eglise No. 2" in Normandy, France, where 4,789 American soldiers, many airborne troops who jumped on D-Day, are buried. This picture is shot from the entrance of the cemetery looking toward the flagpoles in the background." April 1947. Photo by Lt W. LaFleur, photo and caption courtesy of U. S. Army Signal Corps