Memorial

More information

Pfc Henry C. Wade worked on a farm before he enlisted in Louisville, Kentucky on 21 October 1942. He trained at Camp Carson, Colorado, Camp Roberts, California and a camp near Shreveport, Louisiana.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that Pfc Henry C. Wade was accounted for on 11 May 2023.
His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near the Germeter-Hürtgen Road where they encountered heavy resistance. Fighting raged for several days, during which Wade was killed in action. Due to the tactical situation his remains were not immediately recovered. He was declared non-recoverable December 1951.
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.
While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen Forest area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-4462 Neuville, possibly belonged to an American soldier killed near the town of Hürtgen in November 1944, such as Wade.

These remains were wound in November 1946 by German mine-sweepers above ground in a wooded area some 1.5 miles west of Kleinhau and northwest of Hürtgen. It was presumed this soldier was killed by mines.

The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, in 1949, were disinterred in June 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification.
To identify Wade’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Wade’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Pfc Wade has been given his final resting place on 29 November 2023 in Russell Springs, Kentucky.

This is a link to a video, showing his arrival at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and his departure to an airfield in Kentucky:
https://youtu.be/_1wPUNw2PX8?si=w3RUp_fcfG7hUGcL