The US Army announced Thursday that the remains of Private Joe Vinyard, whose tank was destroyed by German forces in 1944 during World War II, have been identified and will finally be returned to his hometown in Tennessee. .
In December 1944, Vinyard, who was 23 years old, was part of Company A of Battalion 774. His unit engaged in combat with German forces near the Hurtgen Forest, an area on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands.
Private Joe Vinyard, missing in 1944 during World War II.
The tank in which Vinyard was traveling was attacked and his whereabouts have since been unknown. One of his comrades said at the time that they had seen him exit the tank, but after weeks of searching, no one was able to find him and the German military never reported him as a prisoner of war. The US government declared him dead in April 1946.
1930 census records show that Joe Wynyard was the fifth of seven children born to Henry and May Wynyard. he was also the only man he was survived by six sisters, They are all dead. The last of them, Johnny Mae, died on October 30, 2020, according to his obituary available at www.smithfuneralandcremation.com.
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How did you identify the remains of Private Joe’s Vineyard?
The US government continued to investigate and conducted several expeditions to the Hertzen area between 1946 and 1950 to search for soldiers missing from the war.
It took another seven decades before Vineyard’s remains were finally found.
The Department of Defense agency dedicated to tracking prisoners of war and missing in action (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, DPAA) said in a statement that search teams are expected to find human remains inside a destroyed tank in Gey, near western Germany, in 2021. The remains were found. ,
Vineyard was finally identified thanks to DNA tests on September 9, 2022 According to the DPAA statement.
According to official information, his funeral will take place in Maryville, Tennessee, about 26 miles (41 kilometers) from his hometown of Loudon.
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