WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Army Staff Sgt. Robert G, Rudd, 34, of Gatesville, Texas, killed during World War II, was accounted for June 20, 2022.
In the early fall of 1944, Rudd was assigned to Company C, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2D Infantry Division. On Jan. 30, Rudd was killed during the Battle of the Bulge when his company attacked heavily fortified enemy forces near the town of Rocherath, Belgium. Due to intense fighting and fierce artillery shelling, Rudd’s body was unrecoverable and the War Department a Report of Death on Feb. 20, 1945.
In 2017, after reviewing information provided by Belgian and American researchers, DPAA historians analyzed evidence related to several sets of remains initially recovered by Belgian locals in the Elsenbuchel Forest that had been interred at what is now the Ardennes American Cemetery in 1949, including unknown remains X-3144 Neuville. Following an interdisciplinary analysis by DPAA historical and scientific staff, the X-3144 remains were disinterred from Ardennes American Cemetery in 2021 for comparison with a list of candidates including Rudd.
To identify Rudd’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis and dental records. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Rudd’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margraten, Netherlands, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Rudd will be buried in Belton, Texas, on a date to be determined.
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.
Rudd’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001nzPbVEAU.