Simantz, Ell T.
Army Private 1st class

Ell T. Simantz, age 22, from Ottawa County Grand Haven, Michigan .

Parents: Preceded in death by Frank Simantz

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, December 19, 1942
Death details: On May 9, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of U.S. Army Technician Fifth Grade Ell T. Simantz, missing from World War II. Simantz entered the U.S. Army from Michigan and served in Service Company, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division. Beginning in November 1942, as they approached Buna, New Guinea, Allied troops, including Simantz’s 126th Infantry Regiment, faced a network of highly organized, mutually supporting bunkers fitted with reinforced walls, natural camouflage, and supplies, all part of Japanese defenses. As a result of these difficulties, it was not until early December that the Allies had any significant victories, and fighting in the area would continue until January 1943. On Dec. 19, 1942, Simantz was killed in action during the fighting near Buna. His remains were not recovered at the time. Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service, tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater, began exhuming remains from approximately 11,000 graves for shipment to the Central Identification Point at the Manila Mausoleum in the Philippines. Those remains that were recovered but could not be identified at the time were buried as Unknowns, many at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. Simantz, not among those identified, was declared nonrecoverable on Sept. 16, 1949. In February 2017, DPAA personnel exhumed an Unknown, previously recovered from the Buna Village Cemetery, from the Manila American Cemetery and sent the remains to the DPAA Laboratory for scientific analysis. Based on the laboratory analysis and total historical and circumstantial evidence, the previously unidentified remains were found to be those of Simantz.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Grand Haven Tribune (1943, 1945)