Flags At Half-Staff In Honor Of Soldier Recently Identified

Governor Tony Evers has ordered flags be flown at half-staff Friday in honor of a WWII soldier whose remains will soon be buried in Beloit. Army Private First Class Clinton P. Koloski died Jan. 14, 1945 at the age of 21 while his unit was on patrol in France. U.S. Army officials said Koloski’s patrol encountered German soldiers who opened fire on Koloski and his unit. Koloski was killed in the firefight but his body wasn’t able to be recovered at the time. Koloski’s identification tags were found more than 15 years ago; in 2016, the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency excavated the site where Koloski’s tags were found, but his remains weren’t there. In 2020, the Department of Defense exhumed remains of an unknown soldier from Rhône American Cemetery in France so they could be tested. In September of 2022, those remains were successfully identified as Koloski’s.