Rakoff, Leo
Army Private

Leo Rakoff, age 26, from New York County New York.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Wednesday, September 27, 1944
Death details: On August 12, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of U.S. Army Pvt. Leo Rakoff, missing from World War II. Rakoff entered the Army from New York and served in Company F, Second Battalion, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. On Sept. 27, 1944, during Operation Market Garden, Company F attacked German positions in the Kiekberg Woods near Groesbeek, Netherlands. Rakoff was killed in action when an artillery shell exploded near his position. The intensity of battle prevented the recovery of his remains at the time. In July 1945, British Graves Registration personnel recovered an unknown set of remains from an isolated field grave near Breedeweg and Grafwegen, Netherlands. The remains, clothed in a uniform bearing an 82nd Airborne Division patch, were turned over to U.S. authorities. The remains could not be identified and were buried as an Unknown at the Netherlands American Cemetery. In 2016, as part of a comprehensive research effort focused on the missing from Operation Market Garden, DPAA historians recommended this Unknown for disinterment. The remains were exhumed that September and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis. Using modern forensic techniques, scientists identified the remains as those of Rakoff.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency