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name
MEECH, Richard Avery - Date of
birth
3 July 1911 -
Age
33 -
Place of birth
Ohio -
Hometown
Monroe County, New York
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
32939009 -
Rank
Private First Class -
Function
unknown -
Unit
HQ Company,
1st Battalion,
109th Infantry Regiment,
28th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
6 November 1944 - Place of
death
In the vicinity of Vossenack-Schmidt, 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
Claude E. Meech (father)
Marian C. (Avery) Meech (mother)
Florence L. Meech (sister)
Betty (Cooksey) Meech (wife)
More information
Pfc Richard A. Meech graduated from Shaw High School in East Cleveland and from Oberlin College. He worked at the Consolidated Machine Tool Co. in Rochester, New York.He enlisted in Rochester, New York on 21 August 1943.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced on 31 December 2025 that Pfc Meech was accounted for.
On 6 Novermber 1944, Pfc Meech was reported killed in action when he was hit by a mortal shell during fighting a half mile southwest of Hürtgen, Germany. His remains were not recovered at the time. Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command, which was tasked with recovering missing American personnel in Europe, conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen Forest, recovering in 1946 a set of remains which were designated X-2483 Neuville. At the time, however, this set of remains could not be identified and were buried as an Unknown. In 2023, the remains of Unknown X-2483 were exhumed and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for forensic analysis and comparison to American soldiers missing from the recovery area. There, the laboratory analysis and total circumstantial evidence available identified the remains as those of Meech.
Funeral arrangements are pending (information added June 2026).
He is remembered on a memorial plaque at the Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.abmc.gov, www.findagrave.com - Patti Johnson, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Ohio Birth Index / 1930 Census / Family Trees / U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, The Oberlin Alumni Magazine - February 1945, www.findagrave.com