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name
COUNTRYMAN, Arthur W "Artie" - Date of
birth
19 September 1907 -
Age
37 - Place of
birth
Plainfield, Will County, Illinois -
Hometown
Plainfield, Will County, Illinois
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
20602751 -
Rank
Technical Sergeant -
Function
unknown -
Unit
F Company,
2nd Battalion,
12th Infantry Regiment,
4th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
20 November 1944 - Place of
death
Germeter, Hürtgen Forest, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten -
Walls of the Missing
* This soldier has been accounted for. A rosette has been placed next to his name.
Immediate family
-
Members
Charles L. Countryman (father)
Emma J. (Danavan) Countryman (mother)
Lenora Countryman (sister)
Clara Countryman (sister)
Gertrude Countryman (sister)
Rhoda M. Countryman (sister)
Loretta G. (Hamilton) Countryman (wife)
Eleanor Countryman (daughter)
Mary Countryman (daughter)
Arthur Countryman (son)
Georgia L. Countryman (daughter)
More information
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) 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 Countryman’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable in September 1951.While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-5430 Neuville, originally discovered by a German woodcutter and recovered by the AGRC in 1947, possibly belonged to Countryman. The remains, which were found above ground, had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in April 2019 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Sgt. Arthur W. Countryman was accounted for on 14 June 2021.
T/Sgt Countryman is given his final resting place in his hometown on 6 August 2021.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com, 1920-1940 Census, Countryman Family Tree
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.findagrave.com, Paula Berry Nelson, www.ancestry.com, B Pehlke, Peter Schouteten