After more than seven decades since his sacrifice in World War II, Pfc. Hood E. Cole will finally be laid to rest in his Georgia hometown. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) confirmed that Cole, killed at age 26 during a wartime encounter in France, has been accounted for and his remains identified through modern scientific methods, as Audacy reported.
Assigned to L Company, 3rd Battalion, 276th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division, Cole perished in battle near Baerenthal, France, in January 1945. His exact death site wasn't known due to the intense combat and the consequent inability to recover his body immediately. Beginning in 1947, despite investigations by the American Graves Registration Command to locate fallen American personnel, Cole was declared non-recoverable on May 11, 1951, as FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
In an unyielding effort to provide closure to the fallen's families, DPAA historians continued research on Soldiers missing from the Baerenthal area, which eventually led to Cole. His remains, initially interred as unknowns under the designations X-9441 and X-9442 in a Frankfurt Mausoleum and later moved to Belgium, underwent thorough scientific examination after being disinterred in April 2018 at the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
Through anthropological and dental analysis, in conjunction scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis, the DPAA positively identified Cole's remains. He was recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery in Dinozé, France. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for, according to Audacy.
The journey home concluded as Cole's remains were transported to metro Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and a processional accompanied by Cobb County Sheriff's deputies and flag-bearing veterans escorted him to Georgia Funeral Care. Today, the soldier was buried with full military honors in Canton, GA, marking an end to the prolonged quest to bring resolution to a family and a nation's history, as FOX 5 Atlanta detailed.
