(RIDGWAY, Colo.) — The remains of a WWII veteran from Ridgeway, Colorado who was recently identified will be laid to rest in Bakersfield, CA at the end of March.
The remains of U.S. Army Pvt. James B. McCartney were identified earlier in March, more than 79 years after he was killed during WWII. He will be interred March 30 at Hillcrest Memorial Park & Mortuary, Bakersfield, California.
A native of Ridgeway, McCartney was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 222nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division. He was killed in action March 1, 1945 at age 22, while his unit was on patrol near Wildenguth, France, according to the U.S. Army.
Courtesy: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Following the war, McCartney was declared non-recoverable Oct. 8, 1951, after investigators searching for fallen American personnel in the European Theater failed to recover any leads regarding his remains.
Years later, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) historians, conducting ongoing research into soldiers missing from combat around Wildenguth, found that remains designated X-6492, buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France, could be associated with McCartney. X-6492 was disinterred for laboratory analysis in August 2022.
McCartney was accounted for by the DPAA on Sept. 21, 2023, after his remains were identified using dental, anthropological, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.
McCartney’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery in Dinozé, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
