Remains of U.S. soldier who vanished amid WWII amphibious invasion are identified

A soldier who went missing in action during an aquatic mission in World War II has been accounted for, military officials said Tuesday. 

U.S. Army Pfc. Robert L. Bryant, 23, was assigned to Company B, in the 4th Ranger Battalion, as part of a group known as Darby’s Rangers, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said. The battalion was trained by Colonel William Darby, who also established a battalion that would later grow into the modern-day United States Army Rangers, the military said. The battalion was active in the Mediterranean Theater, which included Italy, northern Africa and the Middle East. 

Bryant was one of 170,000 Allied servicemen who f6participated in Operation AVALANCHE, when forces invaded Italy in a series of amphibious landings between Sept. 9 and Sept. 18, 1943. After making his way ashore, Bryant engaged in fighting near the Chiunzi Pass on the Sorrento Peninsula, the DPAA said. On Sept. 23, he was reported missing in action after encountering a four-man patrol near Pietre, Italy. 

Bryant’s body was not recovered, and German forces never reported him as a prisoner of war, the DPAA said. The War Department declared him non-recoverable on July 19, 1949. A formal telegram informed his parents he was killed in action, according to a local newspaper clipping shared by the DPAA. He was survived by his parents, five brothers and his wife, according to the clipping. He was awarded a posthumous Purple Heart, according to another news clipping. Bryant’s name was recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy. 

After World War II, the American Graves Registration began working to recover missing American personnel from around the world. In 1947, investigators from the registration found remains in a cemetery in the Italian village of San Nicola. The remains were designated as X-152 Naples, and since the remains could not be associated with nearby casualties, they were interred under that name at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery. 

In 2019, a DPAA historian studying American losses during Operation AVALANCHE compiled multiple records that showed Bryant was likely lost near where the X-152 remains had been discovered. In 2022, the remains were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification.

Scientists with the DPAA used anthropological and dental analysis to study the remains. Mitochondrial DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence were also used to confirm the remains as Bryant’s. Descendants of World War II Rangers Inc., Associazione Salerno 1943, and the staff of the National Archives at College Park also provided “research assistance,” the DPAA said. 

Bryant’s surviving family members were informed of his identification. A rosette will be placed next to his name on the Walls of the Missing at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery to indicate that he has been accounted for, the DPAA said, and he will be buried in April 2025.