Remember...
Mose Edward Vance
1922-1944
"We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people's freedom."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Remember...Mose Edward Vance
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Mose Edward Vance was born November 8, 1922, at Bradshaw, McDowell County, West Virginia. Some documents have his name as "Moses," but his signed draft registration card distinctly has "Mose," as does his military marker. His parents were Mathias Skaggs [Scaggs] Vance and Louisa Kennedy Vance. Mathias was first married to Martha J. Vance in 1908, and they had three children: Pearl, Alexander, and John W. Vance. After Martha's death, Mathias married Louisa Kennedy. In various documents, Mathias is listed as either a farmer or coal loader, and it's quite likely he assumed both roles.
In addition to Mathias and Martha's children, already in the home, Mathias and Louisa became parents to a large brood: Liddie Margaret, Mose Edward, Charles Chester [Chester Charles], Lady Lou, Clarence Ferrell [Ferrell Clarence], Eva, and Betty Jean. (Family information is from the 1930 and 1940 Federal Census listings, Mathias's Find A Grave page, and the Lowe Family Tree on Ancestry.com. Spellings and listings are not consistent from place to place.)
Mose registered for the draft on June 30, 1942. His draft card doesn't indicate his occupation, but he stated that Arthur Pruitt of Bonny Blue, Virginia, was the person who would always know his address. On July 5, 1943, he married Thelma Hurley at Grundy, Virginia. Their marriage certificate states that his occupation was mining, and this is confirmed in his Army enlistment record of October 16, 1943. Although he was born in West Virginia (and enlisted at Huntington), he was living at the time in Lee County, Virginia, and he attested to the fact that he was educated through grammar school.
By January 1945, Private First Class Vance, a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, was serving in the European Theater. On January 11 of that year, Pfc. Vance was killed in action, but his body was not recovered at the time. Nearly 79 years later, on January 5, 2024, Mose E. Vance was finally identified. The following account is provided by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA):
Shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve 1944, German forces launched a major offensive operation in the Vosges Mountains in Alsace-Lorraine, France, known as Operation NORDWIND. The German attack surged through Allied defenses along the Franco-German border, and the ensuing battle enveloped two U.S. Corps along a 40-mile-wide front. In the following few weeks, Company F found itself assigned to a 7-mile sector at Reipertswiller and Wildenguth, France. At some point on Jan 11, PFC Vance was killed, but due to the intensity of the fighting his body was unable to be recovered. With no record of German forces capturing Vance, and no remains recovered, the War Department issued a "Report of Death" in December 1945.Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, began looking for missing American personnel in the Reipertswiller area. At the time, they were able to recover numerous sets of remains, one of which was designated X-6904 St. Avold (X-6904). Because the remains could not be identified, they were interred in 1949 at the U.S. Military Cemetery at St. Avold, France, known today as Lorraine American Cemetery.
DPAA historians have been conducting in-depth research into Soldiers missing from combat around Wildenguth and Reipertswiller, and believe that Unknown X-6904 could be associated with PFC Vance. Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission workers exhumed X-6904 in August 2022 and transferred the remains to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.
To identify Vance's remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and other circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
PFC Vance's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery in Dinoze, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
In addition to the Purple Heart, Pfc. Mose Edward Vance received the Bronze Star. He was buried in the Vance Family Cemetery at Paynesville, West Virginia, on August 10, 2024, thus providing closure for family members who had waited decades for his return.
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure
September 2024
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.