The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today
that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War I, have been identified
and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
This is the first time the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) has identified a
soldier unaccounted-for from World War I.
He is Pvt. Francis Lupo, U.S. Army, of Cincinnati, Ohio. He will be buried on Tuesday at
Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C.
Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of Pvt. Lupo to explain the
recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on
behalf of the Secretary of the Army.
In 1918, Lupo participated in the combined French-American attack on the Germans near
Soissons, France, in what came to be known as the Second Battle of the Marne. Despite heavy
Allied losses, this Battle has been regarded as a turning point in the war, halting and reversing the
final German advances toward Paris.
Lupo, a member of Company E, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, was killed
in action during the battle, but his remains were never recovered.
In 2003, while conducting a survey in preparation for a construction project, a French
archaeological team discovered human remains and other items a short distance from Soissons.
Among the items recovered were a military boot fragment and a wallet bearing Lupo’s name.
The items were given by the French to U.S. officials for analysis.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from
JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the
identification of Pvt. Lupo’s remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing
Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.