An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

ID Announcements

Press Release | June 22, 2023

Soldier Accounted For From World War II (Koloski, C.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pfc. Clinton P. Koloski, 21, of City Point, Wisconsin, killed during World War II, was accounted for Sept. 12, 2022.

In January 1945, Koloski was assigned to Company A, 36th Engineer Combat Regiment. On Jan. 14, the unit was on patrol near Obermuhlthal, France, when it encountered German soldiers in fortified positions. At some point during the fighting, Koloski was killed, but historical records do not indicate exactly where. Due to the fighting, his body was unable to be immediately recovered.

Beginning in 1947, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, searched the area around Obermuhlthal, finding the remains of an American Soldier near remains of another 36th Engineer Combat Regiment Soldier who was killed the same day as Koloski. These remains, designated X-4890, were tentatively associated with Koloski, but an AGRC investigator believed the dental association between Koloski and the remains was questionable, so X-4890 was buried as an Unknown at what is today Rhône American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site near Draguignan, France, in October 1951.

In 2006 and 2007, Koloski’s identification tags were found in the forest near Obermuhlthal and reported to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), a DPAA predecessor organization. JPAC sent an investigation team to the site in October 2009 and DPAA sent a recovery team in April 2016, but no other evidence associated with Koloski was found.

DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Obermuhlthal, and found that X-4890 could be associated with Koloski based on where the remains and ID tags were recovered. X-6373 was disinterred in February 2020 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.

To identify Koloski’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Koloski’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Dinozé, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Koloski will be buried on June 30, 2023, in Beloit, Wisconsin.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Koloski’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XeyBEAS.