Memorial

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Max W Thurston attended Central High School.

He was hit in the chest by enemy small arms fire, but his remains could not be recovered at the time due to intense fighting against heavily reinforced German forces. As American forces began to secure the area, many casualties were nonrecoverable due to dense tangled vegetation and heavy snowfall.

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 identify Thurston’s remains among hundreds recovered during that period. He was officially declared Killed in Action in November 1944.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-7476 Neuville, recovered in April 1948, possibly belonged to Thurston. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, in 1949, were disinterred in July 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification.

To identify Thurston’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) and Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Thurston’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Margraten Cemetery. A rosette has been placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

S/Sgt Thurston has heen given his final resting place at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Michigan.