Kansas soldier killed on D-Day to be buried in hometown

TOPEKA (KSNT) – The remains of a northeast Kansas soldier killed during the D-Day landings at Normandy, France are now accounted for.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on Monday, Feb.12 that the remains of Elmo F. Hartwick, 38, of Onaga, Kansas have been successfully identified. He was serving as a technician fourth grade in the U.S. Army during World War II (WWII).

Hartwick served with the 149th Engineer Combat Battalion during WWII and was on board a landing craft heading for the beaches of Normandy when he was killed in action. A combination of enemy shells and mortar fire hit his landing craft before it struck a mine, instantly killing all 24 soldiers on board.

The recovery of Hartwick’s remains was difficult due to the intensity of the flames on board the landing craft. In June 1944, members of the 500th Medical Collecting Company examined the landing craft and recovered the remains on board. Post-war identification of the remains began in 1946. The remains were separated into four groups of unknowns and interred in Normandy American Cemetery in France.

These remains were later examined in 2021 with enough evidence gathered to suggest one of the unknowns was Hartwick, according to the DPAA. Hartwick is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in France. Hartwick’s remains will be buried in Onaga at a later date.

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