U.S. soldier killed during D-Day invasion accounted for decades later

New publication captures firsthand accounts of D-Day

New publication captures firsthand accounts of however D-Day came together 07:54

A worker from Virginia who died connected D-Day has been accounted for 81 years aft helium was killed, officials said successful a quality release. 

U.S. Army Sgt. Ivor D. Thornton, 34, landed connected Omaha Beach successful Normandy with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regimental Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division arsenic portion of the 2nd question of the invasion, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said successful a quality release. D-Day, oregon Operation Overlord, was a massive Allied penetration of bluish France by aerial and oversea during World War II. The operation, connected June 6, 1944, marked the opening of the liberation of Europe from Hitler's rule. 

The institution disembarked from their landing trade astatine astir 7 a.m. Fellow soldiers observed Thornton wading ashore, but helium was not seen again aft that, the DPAA said. The time aft the invasion, Thornton's portion searched for him, but helium was not found. He was officially listed arsenic missing successful action. His sanction was engraved connected the Walls of the Missing astatine the Normandy American Cemetery successful Colleville-sur-Mer, France. 

U.S. Army Sgt. Ivor D. Thornton. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

On June 8, 1944, 2 days aft D-Day, graves registration unit recovered a acceptable of remains from Omaha Beach that they were incapable to identify, the DPAA said. The remains were interred astatine U.S. Military Cemetery Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, adjacent Omaha Beach, and marked arsenic X-159 St. Laurent. 

In 1945, an effort was made to place the chartless remains, but the effort was unsuccessful, the DPAA said. Analysts with the American Graves Registration Command failed to place the remains again successful 1947. Two years later, successful 1949, a committee of officers from the bid recommended the remains beryllium declared unidentifiable.  

In April 2022, 2 families, including Thornton's, requested that X-159 beryllium disinterred. The families asked that the remains beryllium compared to those of Thornton and different soldier. The remains were exhumed successful September 2023 and transferred to the DPAA laboratory. Scientists conducted dental and anthropological analyses and mitochondrial DNA analysis, the DPAA said. 

Those efforts yet identified the remains arsenic belonging to Thornton. A rosette volition beryllium placed adjacent to his sanction connected the Walls of the Missing to bespeak that helium has been accounted for, the DPAA said, and helium volition beryllium buried astatine the Arlington National Cemetery successful Washington, D.C.

Military labs place long-fallen soldiers 02:54

In:
• World War II
• D-Day
• U.S. Army
• Virginia