Loncar, Michael
Army Private 1st class

Michael Loncar from West Virginia, Hancock county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Wednesday, November 8, 1944
Death details: The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II, was fought between Allied and German forces from September 1944 to February 1945. As U.S. forces advanced eastward into Germany, the defending Germans manned “Siegfried Line” positions opposite the Belgian border. The battle grew to involve approximately 200,000 troops, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. American forces initially entered the area seeking to block German reinforcements from moving north toward the fighting around Aachen, the westernmost city of Germany, near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. In the battle’s second phase and as part of the Allied’s larger offense toward the Rhine River, U.S. troops attempted to push through the forest to the banks of Roer River. Aided by bad weather and rough terrain, German forces in the Hürtgen Forest put up unexpectedly strong resistance due to a well-prepared defense. American forces were unable to break through to the Rur before the German Ardennes offensive struck in December 1944, known as the Battle of the Bulge, which halted the eastward Allied advance until February 1945. Private First Class Michael Loncar, who joined the U.S. Army in West Virginia, served with Company A, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. He was killed in action on November 8, 1944, when German forces drove U.S. troops out of the town of Kommerscheidt, Germany. His fellow soldiers did not see him after the withdrawal from the town. American Graves Registration Command personnel surveyed the area around the Hürtgen Forest during the early 1950s and recovered and identified some remains of American soldiers. However, large sections of the forest remained heavily mined, curtailing the search in many areas. Private First Class Loncar’s remains have not been identified among those recovered. Today, Private First Class Loncar is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency