UPDATE: I neglected to add an important item, the name of the soldier who gave his life for the country. He is U.S. Army Captain Willibald Charles Bianchi, a World War II veteran from New Ulm, Brown County, Minnesota,
Articles that share the story about the identification of missing U.S. service members make me happy for the families that are involved. They get closure. The stories also make me happy because the professional genealogist involved in analyzing records, identifying generations of the service member’s extended family, and determining possible family to provide the DNA connection, is likely a friend of mine. I don’t know who the genealogist was in a case I heard about recently.
https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Our-Stories/Article/4331184/dpaa-concludes-record-setting-2025-fiscal-year is another story that tells of the record number of such identifications in its 2025 fiscal year. It takes a variety of organizations and people to reach such a milestone.
© 2025, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.
Thank you so much for sharing this story. I totally missed it. Even though I am not familiar with this family the connection to New Ulm is interesting. My uncle, who is now 102 years old, also served in the Philippines has shared his military story with me.