Remains of local World War II soldier identified 78 years later

MOUNT OLIVE, Ill. (WAND) - The remains of a World War II soldier from Mount Olive, Illinois who was missing have now been identified.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Monday that U.S. Army Sergeant John W. Radanovich, 23, reported missing during World War II, was accounted for May 11, 2023.

In November 1944, Radanovich was assigned to Company G, 2^nd Battalion, 22^nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. His rifle platoon was engaged in battle with German forces near the town of Grosshau, in Hürtgen Forest, Germany when he was reported missing in action Dec. 1, 1944.

Many soldiers were killed along the Company G battle line. The Germans never reported Radanovich as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not immediately recovered.

The War Department issued a presumptive finding of death in December 1945.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command began investigating and reporting missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950. None of the remains recovered during that time were identified as Radanovich.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen Forest, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-2754A Neuville, recovered near Grosshau in 1946 possibly belonged to Radanovich.

The remains had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium. The remains were disinterred in June 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Radanovich’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System also used mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.

Radanovich’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margarten, Netherlands, along with the others still missing from World War II.

A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Radanovich will be buried in Mount Olive on a date yet to be determined.