Remains of WWII pilot recovered; service set for Nov. 10 in St. Pete, FL
Photo courtesy DAPP.
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
Washington, D.C. - The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on October 2, 2023 that U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Gilbert H. Myers, 27, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted for on August 10, 2023.
In the summer of 1943, Myers was assigned to the 381st Bombardment Squadron, 310th Bombardment Group, in the Mediterranean Theater. On July 10, while serving as a co-pilot of a B-25 Mitchell, Myers’ aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire while conducting a bombing mission over Sicily. Myers’s remains were not recovered, and he was subsequently declared missing in action (MIA).
In late 1944, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) researchers discovered that Italian residents of Sciacca had found a body belonging to the B-25 pilot at a crash site. AGRS investigators at the time indicated that they had found some remains of the wreckage, but had not located any additional losses. In 1947, investigators conducted search and recovery operations near Sciacca, but nothing was located that linked back to Myers.
In 2021 and 2022, DPAA and partner organization personnel from the Cranfield University Recovery and Identification of Conflict Team returned to Sciacca. There, they were able to recover additional plane wreckage pieces, as well as human remains from the crash site. These remains were sent to the DPAA Laboratory for examination and identification.
To identify Myers’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Myers’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, an ABMC site in Nettuno, Italy, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Eighty years and four months after his death, Myers will be buried on Friday, November 10, 2023, 10:00 am, at Memorial Park Cemetery, located at 5750 49th Street North in St. Petersburg, Florida. Family members will be present. For details, or if you have questions, please contact the Army Casualty Office by phone at (800) 892-2490.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and to the U.S. Army Regional Mortuary-Europe/Africa for their partnership in this mission. DPAA is grateful to the authorities of Sciacca and Agrigento, Italy for their support, including Dr. Domenica Gullì, of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali di Agrigento, and the Comando Compagnia Carabinieri Sciacca. Additionally, DPAA is appreciative of Dr. Nicola Virgilio for sharing his research regarding the Aeroporto Fantasma, which continues to assist investigation and recovery efforts in southwest Sicily.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Myers’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000RlYRHEA3.