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

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pvt. Connie Cagle, 23, of Sweetwater, Tennessee, killed during World War II, was accounted for on July 8, 2019.

(This identification was initially published July 17, 2019.)

In late 1942, Cagle was a member of Company K, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, when his unit was engaged with enemy forces along the Soputa-Sanananda Track, near Buna, in the Australian Territory of Papua (present-day Papua New Guinea). Cagle was killed in action on Nov. 22, 1942.

On Jan. 16, 1943, the remains of an unidentified American Soldier, designated X-81, were interred at the U.S. Temporary Cemetery Soputa #2. On April 3, 1943, the remains were moved to U.S. Temporary Cemetery Soputa #1.

In 1947, the American Graves Registration service exhumed approximately 11,000 sets of remains, including X-81, which was redesignated as X-1568, and sent to the Central Identification Point at the Manila Mausoleum in the Philippines. X-1568 could not be identified and was interred at Fort McKinley (now the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.)

On Feb. 24, 2017, Unknown X-1568 was disinterred, and the remains were sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Cagle’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission for their partnership in this mission.

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

Cagle will be buried in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The date has yet to be determined.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,650 service members still unaccounted for from World War II with approximately 30,000 assessed as possibly recoverable. Cagle’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, an American Battle Monuments Commission site along with the others missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

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, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420.

Cagle’s personnel profile can be viewed at
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XfOeEAK