Linder, William V.
Army Private

William V. Linder, age 22, from Indiana, Marion county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Monday, July 10, 1944
Death details: On September 23, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant William Rufus Linder, missing from World War II. Staff Sergeant Linder entered the U.S. Army from South Carolina and served in Company E, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. The Hürtgen Forest offensive lasted from 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945, consisting of a fierce series of clashes between U.S. forces and the entrenched German forces. On November 7, 1944, the 12th Infantry Regiment relieved the exhausted soldiers of the 109th Infantry Regiment that was situated north of the town of Germeter. On November 16, Company E along with Companies F and G attacked northward but were stopped by rifle and machine gun fire. The next day, Companies E and F attempted to continue their advance but were forced to withdraw to their previous positions. Historical circumstances suggest SSG Linder was lost during the fighting on November 17. The American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen Forest between 1946 and 1950. Dozens of remains were recovered during these investigations. At the time, none of these remains could be associated with SSG Linder. More recently, a DPAA historian identified a possible connection between one set of remains that had been recovered following a forest fire in 1947 and a short list of individuals. These remains were disinterred from the Ardennes American Cemetery in April, 2019, and accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established the remains as those of SSG Linder.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency