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Pvt James B. McCartney enlisted at Fort Francis E Warren Cheyenne, Wyoming on 11 May 1943.

He was officially declared death one year and one day after he was reported missing in action.

On 1 March 1945, McCartney was killed in action while his unit was on patrol near Wildenguth, France. The Germans never reported McCartney as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not immediately recovered.
Beginning in 1947, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, searched the area around Wildenguth. None of the investigations uncovered any leads regarding the disposition of McCartney’s remains. He was declared non-recoverable on 8 October 1951.
DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Wildenguth. and found that X-6492, buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, could be associated with McCartney. X-6492 was disinterred in August 2022 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.
To identify McCartney’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR), analysis.
McCartney’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery. A rosette is next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
McCartney is buried on 30 March 2024 in Bakersfield, California.