Remains Of Missing WWII Soldier From Birmingham Identified

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The remains of a soldier who was killed in battle in Germany during World War II have been identified as those of a Birmingham native. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Wednesday that Army Pfc. Bill Morrison, 29, was accounted for July 9, 2021.

In November 1944, Morrison was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces in the Raffelsbrand sector of the Hürtgen Forest in Germany, when he was reported killed in action on Nov. 8.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. It conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950 but was unable to recover or identify Morrison’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-4470 Neuville, originally discovered by a German civilian and recovered by the AGRC in 1946, possibly belonged to Morrison. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in April 2019 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.

To identify Morrison’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome DNA analysis.

Morrison’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Hombourg, Belgium, 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.

Morrison will be buried in Spanish Fort. The date has yet to be decided.