Memorial

More information

Pfc Arthur W. Crossland Jr. was employed at Wingfield's Drug Store.

He enlisted at Fort Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina on 6 September 1944.

During a German counter attack, intense fighting ensued in the heavily wooded terrain filled with minefields, and mortars and machine gun fire halted L Company’s advance. Witnesses stated seeing Crossland trigger a mine roughly 200 yards in front of the main resistance line. He was killed instantly, but U.S. forces had to withdraw before they could recover his body.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, began looking for missing American personnel in the Althorn area. At the time, they were unable to recover any remains which could be identified as Crossland. By late 1950, the Office of the Quartermaster General confirmed Crossland’s status as non-recoverable.
DPAA historians have been conducting in-depth research into Soldiers missing from combat around Althorn, and believe that Unknown X-535, recovered from Althron and interred at Normandy American Cemetery, could be associated with Crossland. Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission workers exhumed X-535 in July 2022 and transferred the remains to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.
To identify Crossland’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and other circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.
Crossland’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery. A rosette is placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Pfc Crossland has been given his final resting place on 14 March 2025 in his hometown.