Remains of Alabama soldier killed in WWII positively ID’d nearly 80 years after his death

The remains of Noah C. Reeves, an Alabama man who was killed during World War II, were declared “non-recoverable in 1951 following several investigations.

But in 2022, his remains were positively identified -- nearly 80 years after Reeves, a 26-year-old Army private, was reported killed in action in Germany on Dec. 6, 1944, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Tuesday.

Reeves’ family recently received the full briefing on his identification, which enabled the DPAA to make Tuesday’s announcement.

The Moulton resident, who was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battlion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division in the European theater during World War II, was fighting German forces near Vossenack, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was reported killed in action on Dec. 6, 1944.

Shortly after the firefight, both sides held a temporary truce to recover their wounded and dead when a German officer handed over Reeves’ identification tags and pay book, the DPAA said.

But members of Reeves’ unit were unable to recover his body from the Germans before fighting resumed, and his remains were unaccounted for after the war.

At the end of World War II, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe.

Several investigations were launched in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950 but the probes did not lead to the recovery or identification of Reeves’ remains.

Reeves was declared “non-recoverable” in 1951.

In 1948, a set of unidentified remains were found in the forest by a German resident.

AGRC personnel investigated and recovered the remains and designated them X-5770.

The command believed the remains belonged to a person who died between November and December 1944 but were unable to scientifically identify them.

The remains were then interred in 1949 in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupré, Belgium.

Based on a DPAA historian’s research in 2021, it was determined that X-5770 may be Reeves.

The remains were disinterred in August 2022 and sent to a DPAA lab for identification.

Scientists with the DPAA used anthropological analysis, and circumstantial evidence to help identify the remains while scientists with the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Reeves’ name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery along with others missing from World War II.

In light of the identification, a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

A proper burial for Reeves has yet to be determined.