Morris E. Swackhammer

On June 28, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Morris E. Swackhammer, missing from World War II.

Private First Class Swackhammer entered the U.S. Army from New York and was a member of Company C, 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division. As part of Operation DRAGOON, Allied troops, including the 36th Infantry Division, landed on the southern coast of France on August 15, 1944. After landing and securing the coastal ports, the division advanced north and joined up with the D-Day invasion force. On November 22, 1944, Company C engaged in a heavy firefight with German troops in a wooded area outside of Fraize, France. PFC Swackhammer was killed in this action. His squad mates were forced to leave his body in the wooded area near Fraize due to the strength of the enemy attack. At some point before Fraize was liberated, residents of Fraize removed PFC Swackhammer's body. In 1945, U.S. personnel recovered an unknown set of remains from Fraize and interred them at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupré, Belgium. Following exhaustive historical research and contributions from French civilian and U.S. military sources, this unknown set of remains were strongly associated with PFC Swackhammer. In 2019, these remains were exhumed and accessioned into the DPAA laboratory, where they were eventually identified as those of PFC Swackhammer.

Private First Class Swackhammer is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Epinal American Cemetery in Dinozé, France.

A funeral service will be held at the Fort Myer Old Post Chapel on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 8:45 a.m.

Interment with full military honors will follow at Arlington National Cemetery.

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