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Pvt Daniel Moniz enlisted in San Fancisco, California om 1 March 1943. After training in Texas and Kentucky, he was sent overseas and served in the European theater for over a year.

He had four other brothers in the service. George, 27, with the army in New Guinea; Frank, 25, with the Air Corps, Joseph, 28, a Merchant Marine and Harold, 19 on troop transport service with the Navy.

Despite his premonition, Moniz remained in the U.S. Army and served as a medic in the 12th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division. According to his niece, Patricia J. Stoller, he became a medic because he did not want to fight. The 4th stormed Utah Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944, helped to liberate Paris and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Pvt Moniz foresaw his death. He told his siblings he would never see them again before he shipped out to Europe during World War II. “He was home on leave, and he told his family, ‘I’m not coming back,’” said Moniz’s nephew and namesake, Daniel Moniz.
He was killed in action on 11 November 1944, but due to the tactical situation, his remains could not be immediately recovered.
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 recover or identify Moniz’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable in December 1951.
While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-8122 St. Avold, recovered from Germeter and Hürtgen possibly belonged to Moniz. The remains, which had been buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, in 1949, were disinterred in 2018 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification. While analyzing X-8122, DPAA scientists also examined X-8118 St. Avold, had been recovered commingled with X-8122.
To identify Moniz’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Moniz’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Margraten Cemetery. A rosette is placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Pvt Moniz was given his final resting place in Hayward, California, on 29 April 2024.