2014/04/08
Journal Sentinel: DNA test is latest to confirm ID of U.S. soldier buried as German
An American forensic lab announced Monday it has independently confirmed through DNA testing that the remains recovered from a German ossuary in France are indeed U.S. Army Pfc. Lawrence S. Gordon, who was mistakenly buried with the enemy after World War II.
DNA was extracted from bones by the national crime lab in France after Wisconsin filmmaker Jed Henry's dogged research through military records led to a crypt of an unknown soldier identified as a German, interred in France.
The French crime lab announced in February that it had a mitochondrial DNA match, meaning the results matched DNA from maternal relatives of Gordon's. Samples then were sent to a DNA testing facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and to Bode Technology Group in Lorton, Va., for independent confirmation.
Bode not only confirmed the French crime lab's results on Monday but also announced that it did a more specific nuclear DNA profile for further proof of identification — all within eight days of receiving the DNA samples from France.
The DNA facility at University of Wisconsin-Madison will begin its testing this week. In addition to confirming the Virginia lab's results, the UW-Madison lab is working on refining techniques for recovering DNA from bones and teeth that are 70 years old and older. more