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## News Release

# Soldier Missing In Action From WWII Is Identified (Burkett)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced todaythat the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identifiedand returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Pvt. Lawrence P. Burkett, U.S. Army, of Jefferson, N.C. He will be buried Saturdayin Jefferson.

Representatives from the Army met with Burkett’s next-of-kin in their hometown toexplain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honorson behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

In early December 1944, Burkett was a member of Company A, 357th Infantry Regiment,90th Infantry Division. The 90th ID had been assigned the task of breaching the southern portionof the enemy's “West Wall” near the German city of Saarbrüken. The 357th was occupying abridgehead in the Dillingen Forest near the Saar River when the Germans launched a strongcounterattack. The 357th suffered many casualties and on Dec. 11, Burkett was among thoselisted as missing in action.

In early December 1944, Burkett was a member of Company A, 357th Infantry Regiment,90th Infantry Division. The 90th ID had been assigned the task of breaching the southern portionof the enemy's “West Wall” near the German city of Saarbrüken. The 357th was occupying abridgehead in the Dillingen Forest near the Saar River when the Germans launched a strongcounterattack. The 357th suffered many casualties and on Dec. 11, Burkett was among thoselisted as missing in action.

In September 2006, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC)excavated the burial site in the Dillingen Forest and recovered additional human remains andmaterial evidence.

Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence,scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also usedmitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains.

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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