Memorial

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Pfc Mark P. Wilson graduated from Elizabethton High School in 1942 and attended Milligan College. He was employed at North American Rayon Corporation.

He enlisted in the US Army on 6 March 1943 at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was injured 2 August 1944 in France and reported back to duty 27 September 1944.

A member of his unit reported that he was struck by a German artillery shell in the vicinity of Kommerscheidt and Schmidt. Battle conditions prevented the immediate recovery of his body, and later searches for his remains were unsuccesful.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Wilson’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable in November 1951.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-5433 Neuville, recovered Kommerscheidt in April 1947, possibly belonged to Wilson. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, in 1949, were disinterred in July 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.

To identify Wilson’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on 21 September 2022 that Mark P. Wilson was accounted for on 12 September 2022.

Wilson’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Pfc Wilson will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date yet to be determined (information added January 2023).