WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Estle E. Corvin, killed during World War II, was accounted for September 13, 2024.
In January 1945, Corvin was assigned to Company K, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division in the European Theater during World War II. Shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve 1944, German forces launched a major offensive operation in the Vosges Mountains in Alsace-Lorraine, France, known as Operation NORDWIND. The German attack surged through Allied defenses along the Franco-German border, and the ensuing battle enveloped two U.S. Corps along a 40-mile-wide front. In the following few weeks, Company K found itself assigned to resupply and reinforce Allied forces during the Battle of Reipertswiller. At some point on Jan. 21, Corvin was killed, but due to the intensity of the fighting his body was unable to be recovered while Company K was forced to withdraw from the area. With no record of German forces capturing Corvin, and no remains recovered, the War Department issued a “Finding of Death” in January 1946.
This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Corvin's case will be published once the family has received their full briefing.
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.