Missing Roanoke WWII veteran accounted for

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Sergeant Mayburn L. Hudson, 21, of Roanoke, Virginia, killed during World War II, was accounted for December 14, 2023.

In August 1944, Hudson was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 330th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division in the European Theater during World War II. On Aug 7, Hudson’s unit came under heavy German fire in the vicinity of Saint-Malo, in Brittany, France. Company F was given the order to assault a heavily fortified German position atop a hill, called “The Citadel”. Facing harsh fire from well-defended forces, the 330th Infantry Regiment suffered heavy losses, including Hudson. His body could not be recovered because of the intense fighting and he was initially listed as Missing in Action. Just a few months later as his remains were still unaccounted for in January 1945, the War Department issued a “Report of Death.”

In November 1944, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, received notification from a French citizen that several Americans were buried near Paramé, close to where SGT Hudson was reportedly killed. AGRC searched the area around Paramé and Saint-Milo, finding several sets of American remains, but it was unable to identify one of them as Hudson, which was subsequently designated X-172 St James (X-172). The unidentified remains were then buried in the U.S. Military Cemetery at St. James, France, now knows as the Brittany American Cemetery.

DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Saint-Milo and found that Unknown X-172 could be associated with Hudson. Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission workers exhumed X-172 in June 2019 and transferred the remains to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.

To identify Hudson’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and dental analysis, as well as other circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Hudson’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Brittany American Cemetery in Montjoie Saint Martin, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Hudson will be buried August 7, 2024, in Lynchburg, Virginia.

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

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.