Kansas man killed in Germany in Globe War II identified

Military officials say a Kansas man who died in Germany throughout Globe War II has been identified and his remains will be returned to his household state for burial.

March 18, 2023, two:52 PM ET

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HILL CITY, Kan. — The remains of a Kansas man who died in Germany throughout Globe War II have been identified and will be returned to his household state for burial later this year.

The physique of US Army Sgt. Gregory W. Knoll 22, of Hill City. was identified in January, but his household only lately received a complete briefing, the POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Friday.

Knoll was assigned to Business M, 3rd Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. In November 1944, his battalion was overwhelmed by German forces as they attempted to capture Schmidt in Germany in the Hurtgen Forest.

The survivors of the attack retreated to Kommersheim, exactly where it was reported that Knoll was killed in action on November 7, 1944.

The American Graves Registration Command performed various investigations in the Hurtgen region in between 1946 and 1950, but failed to find or recognize Knoll’s remains.

A DPAA historian later determined that a set of unidentified remains located at Kommersant in April 1946 likely belonged to Knoll. The remains had been interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium in 1949.

They had been unearthed in July 2021 and sent to a DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, exactly where scientists employed DNA and other analyzes to recognize Knoll’s remains.

Knoll will be buried July 7 in Garden City.