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## News Release

# WWII Missing In Action Soldiers Identified (Puckett, Brown)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced todaythat the remains of two U.S. Army soldiers, missing in action from World War II, have beenidentified and returned to their families for burial.

They are Sergeant John T. Puckett, Wichita, Kan., and Private Earnest E. Brown, Bristol,Va. Puckett will be buried tomorrow at the Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium.Brown was buried last week near Bristol, Va.

On January 15, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge, Puckett and Brown were searchingfor German soldiers in a wooded area near Elsenborn, Belgium. They were ambushed and cameunder intense enemy machine gun and mortar fire. Eyewitnesses indicated they were killed, buttheir bodies could not be recovered due to enemy activity.

Following the war, remains of American soldiers were recovered and identified, but notthose of Puckett and Brown. Then in 1992, two Belgian nationals located and excavated anabandoned fighting position in the forest east of Elsenborn. They recovered remains and otherevidence and turned them over to U.S. authorities in Europe.

Scientists of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNAIdentification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to identify theremains as those of Puckett and Brown.

Of the 88,000 Americans missing in action from all conflicts, 78,000 are from WorldWar II.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missingAmericans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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