Cansler, Leonard L.
Army Private 1st class

Leonard L. Cansler from Missouri, Dallas county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Tuesday, December 19, 1944
Death details: On January 29, 2020, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private James J. Cansler, missing from World War II. Private Cansler joined the U.S. Army from Missouri and was a member of the 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, which took part in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. On December 19, 1944, he and other members of his company were securing a road and section of woods southeast of Vossenack, Germany. Private Cansler was last seen at the edge of these woods and was reported as missing in action when his company reorganized the next day. Attempts to locate him following his disappearance were unsuccessful. In 2018, the DPAA began an analysis of a set of remained declared as “unknowns” that were thought to relate to a missing soldier killed at Vossenack. DPAA used a multidisciplinary analysis that eventually led to the identification of the remains as those of Private Cansler. Private Cansler is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency