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 II, have been identified and are
being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Pfc. Victor P. Corsini, 23, of Girard, Kan., will be buried on July 28 in Las Vegas. On
Dec. 10, 1944, Corsini’s unit, the 414th Infantry Regiment, was driving east along the Roer River
when an intense battle erupted near the town of Pier, Germany. Corsini was killed the next day when
an enemy artillery shell burst in the treetops above him. The ongoing German counterattack
prevented his remains from being recovered.
Following World War II, the Army Graves Registration Service conducted investigations and
searches for the remains of U.S. servicemen lost throughout Europe. In 1951, after several extensive
searches of the area, concluded his remains were unrecoverable.
In May 2010, a German power company excavating near Pier, Germany, uncovered human
remains and U.S. military equipment including a military identification tag bearing Corsini’s name.
The German War Graves Commission facilitated the transfer of the remains to the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC
used dental comparisons in the identification of Corsini’s remains.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died. At the end
of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans.
Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict.
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.