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FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of Army Pvt. Joe C. Brooks, a Soldier killed during World War II, will be interred Sept. 23 at Elizabethtown Memorial Gardens, Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Manakee Funeral Home, Elizabethtown, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.
A native of Rockfield, Kentucky, Brooks was a first scout, assigned to Company I, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. His unit was part of Operation HUSKY, the Allied effort from July 10 to Aug. 17, 1943, to capture Sicily from Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italian regime. Brooks was killed in action during the Battle of Troina Aug. 1, at age 19, while leading an advance against German forces. His body was not recovered because of the fighting.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command searched the area near Troina, Italy, for the remains of fallen service members but was unable to find any that could be identified as Brooks. He was declared non-recoverable April 9, 1947.
While investigating U.S. losses from the 1943 invasion of Sicily, historians with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting determined in 2016, that one set of unknown remains, X-22227 Monte Soprano, was a candidate for a match to Brooks. After extensive research and record comparison, X-22227 was disinterred in June 2019 and sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.
Brooks was accounted for by the DPAA Sept. 27, 2022, after his remains were identified using circumstantial evidence as well as dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.
His name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, along with others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
For additional information about Pvt. Brooks, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3174274/soldier-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-brooks-jc/
To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call 703-699-1420/1169.
Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact the Army Casualty Office at 800-892-2490 and/or Manakee Funeral Home, 270-769-6341.
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| Date Taken: | 09.18.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2023 09:58 |
| Story ID: | 453646 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KY, US |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Remains of World War II Soldier to be buried in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, by Fonda Bock, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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