Press Release | Sept. 1, 2023

Soldier Accounted for from WWII (Moniz, D.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pvt. Daniel Moniz, 19, of Hayward, California, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 5, 2023.

In November 1944, Moniz was assigned to Medical Detachment, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Hürtgen, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was killed in action on Nov. 11. Due to the tactical situation, his remains could not be immediately recovered.

Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Moniz’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable in December 1951.

While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-8122 St. Avold, recovered from Germeter and Hürtgen possibly belonged to Moniz. The remains, which had been buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Saint-Avold, France, in 1949, were disinterred in 2018 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification. While analyzing X-8122, DPAA scientists also examined X-8118 St. Avold, had been recovered commingled with X-8122.

To identify Moniz’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Moniz’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margraten, Netherlands, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Moniz will be buried in Hayward, California, on September 29, 2023.

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