Ladner, Andrew J.
Army Private

Andrew J. Ladner from Mississippi, Harrison county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Monday, November 30, 1942
Death details: On July 9, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private Andrew Joseph Ladner, missing from World War II. Private Ladner entered the U.S. Army from Mississippi and served in an Anti-tank Company, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division. In late 1942, American and Australian troops were engaged with Japanese troops in the mountainous jungles of New Guinea for control of the north-coast port of Buna. Private Ladner’s unit was posted to the extreme left of the Allied line, near the Soputa-Sanananda Track. On November 30, 1942, Private Ladner was killed during fighting in this area, but the exact circumstances of his loss are unknown. Unit records indicated that Private Ladner was buried approximately four and a half miles north of Soputa; however, after the war, U.S. personnel were unable to locate his remains. On November 3, 2016, a set of unknown remains was exhumed from the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial and accessioned to a DPAA Laboratory for possible identification. Laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established the remains as those of Private Ladner.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency