Mystery of missing World War II soldier from Mississippi solved after 8 decades

A south Mississippi family has finally found answers to an eight-decade mystery. The fate of Private Andrew Ladner, a soldier from Harrison County, has been unknown since he disappeared during World War II, during the Battle of Buna-Gona.

This month, the U.S. government announced that Ladner's remains had been identified. The notification came from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

In November 1942, Ladner was posted in the southeastern mountain jungles of what was then the Australian territory of New Guinea, fighting Japanese troops for control of the port of Buna, the DPAA said. His unit's mission was to cut off Japanese supply and communications lines from the nearby village of Sanananda.