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name
BROWN, Earnest E - Date of
birth
2 June 1915 -
Age
29 - Place of
birth
Bristol County, Virginia -
Hometown
Bristol County, Virginia
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
33843369 -
Rank
Private -
Function
Automatic Rifleman -
Unit
B Company,
1st Battalion,
394th Infantry Regiment,
99th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Finding of Death - Date of
death
15 January 1945 - Place of
death
In the forest, east of Elsenborn, Belgium
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes -
Tablets of the Missing
* This soldier has been accounted for. A rosette has been placed next to his name.
Immediate family
-
Members
Albert A. Brown (father)
Sophie Brown (mother)
Juanita Brown (sister)
Dewey Brown (brother)
Paul Brown (brother)
Louise Brown (sister)
Kathleen Brown (sister)
Maxie Brown (wife)
George A. Brown (son)
Barbara A. Brown (daughter)
More information
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced that the remains of two Army soldiers; missing in action were identified on 30 March 2005 and returned to their families for burial. They are Sgt John T. Puckett and Pvt Earnest E. Brown.On 15 January 1945, Puckett and Brown were searching for German soldiers in a wooded area near Elsenborn, Belgium. They were ambushed and came under intense enemy machine gun and mortar fire. Eyewitnesses indicated they were killed, but their bodies could not be recovered due to enemy activity.
Following the war, remains of American soldiers were recovered and identified, but not those of Puckett and Brown. Then in 1992, two Belgian nationals located and excavated an abandoned fighting position in the forest east of Elsenborn. They recovered remains and other evidence and turned them over to U.S. authorities in Europe.
Scientists of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to identify the remains as those of Puckett and Brown.
Pvt Brown was given his finael resting place at a private cemetery near Bristol, Virginia.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com , www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com, www.findagrave.com, http://www.miaproject.net/mia-search-recoveries/cold-case/
Photo source: www.findagrave.com John Michael, Jean-Louis Seel