Battle Creek Man Killed in World War II Is Responsible for

It was announced Thursday by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that the US Army Pfc. It was attributed to Lowell D. Smith of Battle Creek who died during World War II.

Smith was part of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. On January 21, 1945, Smith went missing during the Battle of Ripertswiller in France, and a few months later, Army personnel found German records that recorded Smith’s death on the day he went missing.

In 1946 37 unidentified American remains were found around Ripertswiller, but the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was unable to identify Smith. The organization announced that Smith was non-recoverable on July 19, 1951.

Historians conducted ongoing research on missing soldiers from Repertswiller and found Smith’s remains buried at the site of an American war memorial commission in St. vald, France, as unknown X-8062. According to the DPPA, scientists used dental and anthropometric analysis to determine Smith’s body.

The agency said Smith’s name is recorded in the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery in Dinos, France.

Smith would return home and be buried in Augusta, Michigan. A date is yet to be decided.