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name
MANGAN, Donald Edward - Date of
birth
17 April 1918 -
Age
26 - Place of
birth
Hamlin County, South Dakota -
Hometown
Elkton, Brookings County, South Dakota
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
37449949 -
Rank
Private First Class -
Function
unknown -
Unit
C Company,
1st Battalion,
112th Infantry Regiment,
28th Infantry Division
-
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
17 September 1944 - Place of
death
Near Wettlingen, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg - Tablets of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
John J. Mangan (father)
Emma (Berdahl) Mangan (mother)
James E. Mangan (brother)
Lloyd Mangan (brother)
Neil F. Mangan (brother)
More information
On 7 August 2019 The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Pfc Donald E. Mangan was accounted for on 30 July, 2019.In 1944, Pfc Mangan was reported missing in action on 17 September, 1944, after his unit was attacked by enemy forces near Wettlingen, Germany. His remains could not be recovered after the attack.
After the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, was the unit tasked with investigation and recovery of missing American personnel. The AGRC collected thousands of unknown remains from across northern Europe. A mass grave of several 112th Infantry Soldiers was found near Wettlingen, and most were identified through identification tags or personal effects. However two sets, designated X-70 Hamm and X-71 Hamm, were declared unidentifiable, and subsequently buried in the Luxembourg American Cemetery as Unknowns.
In 2017, while studying American losses and unidentified remains recovered from combat around Wettlingen, Germany, a DPAA historian reviewed documents of X-70 Hamm, and determined that there were five unresolved American casualties who were last known to have been lost in combat near Wettlingen, including Pfc Mangan.
In April 2019, the Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission disinterred X-70 Hamm and accessioned the remains to the DPAA laboratory.
To identify Pfc Mangan's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological analysis and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
Pfc Mangan has been given his final resting place at the Haven of Rest Memorial Park in Gig Harbor, Washington on 22 October 2019.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census, https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/1928647/soldier-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-mangan-d/
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, DPAA