MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The remains of a U.S. Army corporal who was killed in Germany during World War II have been identified and will be buried in his Tennessee hometown, officials said Thursday.
Joe A. Vinyard, 23, was assigned to Company A, 774th Tank Battallion as a crew member on a tank in December 1944, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a news release.
Vinyard was engaged in battle with German forces near Gey, Germany, when his tank was destroyed by shelling. When his crew regrouped, Vinyard was missing. The U.S. War Department issued a presumptive finding of death in April 1946.
A set of unidentified remains recovered from a burned-out tank in Gey that had been buried in Belgium were disinterred in 2021 and sent to a U.S. laboratory for anthropological and DNA analysis. The statement said Vinyard was accounted for on Sept. 9, 2022.
Vinyard’s burial will be held on a date to be determined in Maryville, Tennessee, according to the statement.
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