Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM APRIL 3-9, 2019 UCW 11 e remains of a World War II Indian paratrooper have been interred in his home- town 75 years after his death. Army Pfc. Clifford M. Mills, then 29, was reported missing in action Oct. 18, 1944, near Wyler and Zyfflich, Germany. He took part in Operation Market Garden, the invasion of the German-occupied Netherlands. Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died in combat. ere are 72,742 service members from World War II still unaccounted for. After the war, the Army found no evidence that Mills had survived or been captured. He was from Troy, Indiana, in Perry County, and was a member of the 319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. Following the end of hostilities, the American Graves Registration Com- mand of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps took on the task of investigat- ing and recovering deceased and missing American service members. It recovered thousands of unknown sets of remains. One set, designated Unknown X-2566 Neuville, was re- covered from an isolated grave near a downed glider. e remains could not be identified and were buried as an unknown at the Henri-Chapelle American Cem- etery and Memorial in Hombourg, Belgium. Following thorough analy- ses of military records and graves reg- istration documents, which suggested a strong association between X-2566 Neuville and Mills, the remains were disinterred in June 2017 for analysis. To identify the remains, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Ac- counting Agency used dental and anthropological analysis as well as mitochondrial DNA and circumstan- tial and material evidence. Mills was officially accounted for Jan. 29, 2019, by e Defense POW/MIA Account- ing Agency. "at's when they started the process of trying to get him back to the United States," said Mills' niece, who asked that she not be identified by name. "It has been an honor to be able to take care of this and getting Uncle Clifford back to the United States where he belongs." e remains were returned to Zoercher-Gillick Funeral Home in Tell City, the county seat of Perry County, Indiana. His funeral was held there March 30. Burial followed at the Troy City Cemetery. A nine-member 82nd Airborne honor guard traveled from Fort Bragg headquarters to render military funeral honors for Mills. Members of Mills' family and Nowy van Hedel, a resident of the Netherlands who helped research Mills' MIA case, were on hand. Researcher van Hedel recently uploaded a video to YouTube show- ing a U.S. flag ceremony honoring Mills at the Margraten, Netherlands, American Cemetery and Memorial. It is Europe's third largest war cemetery for unidentified soldiers who died in World War II. More than 8,300 soldiers are buried there. e graves have been adopted by locals, who at- tend them and lay flowers. Van Hedel concluded a brief recol- lection of his 12 years of research into Pfc. Clifton Mills with a caption to the memorial video that says: "It took a lot of time, but he will be … buried next to his wife Ethel." 82nd Airborne soldier no longer missing in action by JEFF THOMPSON NEWS Pfc. Clifford M. Mills APRIL 15, 7:30 P.M. UNCP.EDU/GPAC 910.521.6361 GPAC GIVENS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT PEMBROKE They took Broadway by storm in one of the biggest hits of all time. Now on their 9th national tour, THE MIDTOWN MEN are bringing their magic to audiences everywhere, singing their favorite "Sixties Hits" from The Beatles, The Rascals, Motown, The Four Seasons and more. SPONSORED BY ALLEN ORTHOPEDICS