Clarence W. Brotherton, age 20, from Gibson City, Illinois, Ford county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, October 15, 1945
Death details: accounted for April 23, 2020. In October 1944, Brotherton was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Germeter, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was killed in action on Oct. 14. Brotherton could not be recovered because of the on-going fighting. Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Brotherton’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable in 1951. While studying unresolved American losses in the Raffelsbrand area, a DPAA historian determined that one of two sets of unidentified remains, designated X-4491 Neuville and X-4492 Neuville, recovered comingled from Raffelsbrand sector of the Hürtgen Forest near Germeter in 1946, possibly were linked to Brotherton. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in September 2017 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification. To identify Brotherton’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. Brotherton’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margarten, Netherlands, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for. Brotherton will be buried Sept. 7, 2021, in his hometown.
Cemetery: Netherlands American Cemetery
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
