On July 2, 2001, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Technician Fifth Grade Joseph A. Leano, missing from World War II.

Technician Fifth Grade Leano, who entered the U.S. Army from New York, served as a medic in Company B, 10th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division. In late September 1944, the 5th Infantry Division took part in Operation Thunderbolt, a combined air-and-ground offensive to seize the enemy-held city of Metz, France. On October 7, 1st Platoon, Company B participated in an attack on Fort Driant. During the attack, the platoon was surrounded and came under fire. T5 Leano was killed by small arms fire, but his body was unable to be recovered when the fort came under allied control in December 1944. Fierce combat in the area prevented the recovery of his body at the time. In 1996, a French national located a potential grave-site near Fort Driant, and personnel from the U.S. Army Mortuary in Germany traveled to the site and recovered human remains. These remains were later identified as those of T5 Leano.

Technician Fifth Grade Leano is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Lorraine American Cemetery in Saint-Avold, France.

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Julien D Goell