Kentucky soldier killed during World War II identified

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

McKEE, Ky. (AP) — The remains of a Kentucky soldier killed during World War II have been identified.

U.S. Army Pfc. Berton J. McQueen, 20, of McKee, was accounted for last month, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

McQueen was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division in November 1944 as troops battled the German infantry in Clefcy, the statement said. He was mortally wounded and died Nov. 23 at an aid station after the 1st Battalion was forced to abandon the city. When German troops withdrew, his body wasn’t found.

Remains recovered in 1946 from a garden in Clefcy couldn’t be identified at the time but were exhumed in 2019 and confirmed as McQueen though research, DNA testing and dental and anthropological analysis.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-kentucky-world-war-ii-076b3e90cb0018a3d1d8fdb08e329bff

[jaxexpat]

1. For some reason this strikes me as especially sad today.

[NurseJackie]

11. His photo:

https://www.wlwt.com/article/kentucky-soldier-killed-during-world-war-ii-identified-benton-mcqueen/37403095

[jaxexpat]

12. Thanks. Please bear with me.

I grew up in a Kentucky farming town of about 400. There was a newspaper write-up during the war that I read years after the fact. The article was about the small towns across America that had suffered inordinate casualties. My little town was mentioned. I believe maybe 6 dead from combat. Growing up it was understood that the hermit who lived in a camper trailer, usually drunk and catter-walling in the night, wakening those who didn't sleep too soundly, had seen a "tough battle". None ever called him out because of it nor was it derided in conversational gossip. He was distant family. Same last name. He wasn't alone. There were others whose nights were stolen by their memories but not as loudly. The man who was always starting business projects, building the brick-n-mortar to near completion and abandoning it time and again. Dis-functional marital relationships, life-crippling disease picked up on Guadalcanal, phobias of bodies of water from D-Day(wouldn't ride the ferry to Indiana), an uncle with a hyper-stutter which his wife said he "didn't have when we were married". Things a kid picked up on watching adults and listening to their quiet words. My grandfather respected these guys. I saw him calling out a "town blowhard" type who was publicly berating a guy, telling the assembled simply, "he fought for you so you didn't have to go", silent heads nodding. They're all gone now. Only their echoes and the misty clarity of recollection.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Very sad, but I am glad they found the body. My uncle was killed in WWII, no body was recovered.

It is hard to explain, but for my family there is a lack of closure. A feeling my uncle is just off floating somewhere.
I know it doesn't make sense, but somehow a body in a marked grave brings some peace.

[Skittles]

10. it makes sense

when people die, memorials are very important to their friends and loved ones, which is why a pile of flowers will be laid at the site of someone's death, and and at their funeral.....with no body, that doesn't really happen, it's like you say.........up in the air

[Irish_Dem]

13. He actually has two empty graves.

One in the family churchyard and one the Navy set up overseas near where his ship was sunk by the Japanese in WWII during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Neither one seems like a real grave.

Thank you!!

[Skittles]

15. there is one place they never leave

in our hearts, always

[Irish_Dem]

16. Yes that is very true.

We always drink a toast to our uncle at family reunions.
We miss him and as you say he is in our hearts which is more important than having a body to bury.

Thanks

[Bayard]

3. 20 years old......

Could have had a good life.

[usaf-vet]

6. That is exactly the thing that saddens me the most about my High School classmates that KIA in NAM.

They never got t experience the good things that life has to offer. Marriage, family, and kids to name a basic few.

[Chainfire]

4. Kids make up the bulk of any army.

Strength and stamina are a part of it, but at age 19 or 20 kids haven't learned to say no to adults yet. At age 35 a man is liable to tell his Sargent, "Hell no, I am not going to do that."

The average age of the ten men who crewed our heavy bombers was 22.
The Captains of submarines averaged 32 years old and were considered old men by their crews.

[COL Mustard]

5. Not Only That, Military Service Ages A Lot Of People

So that 32 year old submarine skipper during WW2 might have not only been significantly older than his crew, he certainly would have looked it as well.

[Kaleva]

14. In WWII, males age 18 to 37 were subject to the draft

"On November 11, 1942, Congress approves lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to age 37."

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/draft-age-is-lowered-to-18

[usaf-vet]

7. R.I.P. Pfc. Berton J. McQueen

[sdfernando]

8. I always get emotional when this happens.

Its incredibly sad that for so many of these lost soldiers their families, parents, siblings, were never able to bury their loved one....and at the same time it is incredibly gratifying that they are coming home and can finally be laid to rest.

Thank you Pfc. Berton J. McQueen!

[denbot]

9. Rest easy, and welcome home Berton.

I can think of a good use of the plot Rumsfeld is now desecrating.