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Personal info

Full name
FERRARA, Vincent J
Date of birth
8 July 1925
Age
20
Place of birth
Cook County, Illinois
Hometown
Cook County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
36958626
Rank
Private First Class
Function
unknown
Unit
C Company,
1st Battalion,
110th Infantry Regiment,
28th Infantry Division
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
15 November 1945
Place of death
In the vicinity of Raffelsbrand, 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
Damiano Ferrara (father)
Giovanna (Nigretto) Ferrara (mother)
Ursulene (Penkala) Ferrara (sister)
Vincenzo Ferrara (brother)
Mary G. Ferrara (sister)
Lucia C. Ferrara (sister)
Vincent Ferrara (brother)
Joseph J. Ferrara (brother)
Ann C. Ferrara (sister)
Rosemary Ferrara (sister)

More information

Pfc Vincent J. Ferrara was born as Vincenzo Ferrara according to his birth record.

He was killed in action on 14 November 1944 and was officially declared death on 15 November 1945.

On 10 November 1944, Pfc Ferrara’s unit tried to attack through the Raffelsbrand Forest in the Hürtgen Forest but was stopped by stiff German resistance. Pfc Ferrara was badly wounded during the fighting on 14 November. He was taken to a field hospital; however, no further information surrounding Pfc Ferrara's death and burial were reported, nor could he be associated with any remains recovered at the time. Searches of the Hürtgen Forest area following the end of hostilities were unsuccessful in locating Pfc Ferrara’s remains. At some point, while studying unresolved unidentified remains recovered from the Raffelsbrand sector of the Hürtgen Forest, a DPAA historian analyzed the historical records of a set of "unknowns" recovered in 1947 and eventually interred at USMC Neuville (now Ardennes American Cemetery). In 2017, the Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission exhumed this set of "unknowns" and transferred them to the DPAA laboratory where Pfc Ferrara was identified from among them.

On 17 December 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that Pfc Ferrara was accounted for.

Pfc Ferrara was given his final resting place at the Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee on 22 April 2020.

He is also memorialized at a cemetery in Saint David, Arizona.

Source of information: André Koch, Raf Dyckmans, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Ferrara Family Tree / Illinois Birth Index

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, André Koch, www.findagrave.com - Diana & John Loy, Laura Ferrara