Soldier killed in World War II to be buried next to his mother in Bakersfield
One big question was left unanswered when The Californian reported Wednesday night that the remains of a U.S. Army soldier killed during World War II — an infantryman whose remains were lost for nearly eight decades — will be buried March 30 at Hillcrest Memorial Park & Mortuary in east Bakersfield.
The big question was why.
Why is Pvt. James B. McCartney, a native of Ridgway, Colo., being laid to rest in Bakersfield?
The answer came Thursday from his nephew, and namesake.
“I thought it was the right thing to do to bury him next to his mother,” said James W. McCartney, 66, the nephew of James B. McCartney, who was 22 when he was killed in action in France in 1945.
“I feel so fortunate that he is able to be laid to rest next to his mom.”
McCartney remembered being completely surprised, and maybe a little blindsided, when the Army informed him that his uncle’s remains had been positively identified after an extensive investigation using dental, anthropological, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.
James B. McCartney was officially accounted for by the Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency on Sept. 21, nearly 80 years after his death.
The news, when it finally arrived, was naturally bittersweet, the nephew remembered. So much time, so many years, had passed that virtually all who knew the boy who became a soldier also were gone from this world.
And information is “sketchy,” James W. said. For example, he’s not sure exactly how many siblings his uncle had, and how well they knew each other.
“I’m just glad that he was finally identified and can be repatriated,” he said.
“My grandmother (his uncle’s mother) didn’t talk about him a lot. I don’t think she wanted him to go to war.”
Mary M. McCartney, the fallen
soldier’s mother, died in Bakersfield in 1972, according to an obituary published in The Californian. Only two of her son James’ siblings were still alive at its writing more than 50 years ago, according to the obituary.
She was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park, where her long-lost son will soon join her.
Pvt. McCartney was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 222nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division, according to a news release from the Army. He was killed in action March 1, 1945, while his unit was on patrol near Wildenguth, France, about 80 miles from the German border.
It was just 69 days before VE Day, the end of the war in Europe.
Six years after the war, McCartney was declared non-recoverable after investigators searching for fallen American soldiers in the European Theater failed to recover any leads regarding his remains, according to the release.
Years later, DPAA historians, conducting ongoing research into servicemen missing from combat around Wildenguth, found that remains designated X-6492, buried in Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France, could be associated with McCartney. X-6492 was disinterred for laboratory analysis in August 2022.
McCarney’s remains, sealed in a casket, are expected to arrive at LAX airport at about 5 p.m. today.
His nephew flew from his home in Missouri to Los Angeles on Thursday to be at LAX when his uncle’s remains come home.
Tom Barry, California state captain for the Patriot Guard Riders, said the motorcycle group will escort the hearse carrying McCartney’s remains and any other vehicles in the caravan, from LAX to Castaic, where a local group of Riders will meet them and escort the group into Bakersfield.
“This is one of those we call ‘a happy moment,’” Barry said of the return of a long-lost soldier’s remains.
“It’s a happy time when we are able to return somebody home, when we can bring closure to families.”
McCartney is expected to receive full military honors at the graveside service scheduled at 1:30 p.m. March 30 in the Garden of Memory at Hillcrest.
If history is any indication, Bakersfield will be there.