Virginia’s soldier killed during the invasion of day D represented more than 80 years later

A Virginia soldier who died on day D has been counted for 81 years after he was killed, authorities said in a press release.

US Army Sergeant Uu. Ivor D. Thornton, 34, landed Omaha Beach in Normandy With the company H, 2nd Battalion, 116º Infantry Regiment Combat team, 29th Infantry Division as part of the second wave of the invasion, said the Pow/Mia Defense Accounting Agency in a press release. D-Day, or Operation Overlord, was a Huge ally invasion of northern France by air and sea during World War II. The operation, on June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of the Liberation from Europe of the Hitler government.

The company landed its landing boat around 7 am, other soldiers observed Thornton Vadeo on landbut it was not seen again after that, said the DPAA. The day after the invasion, Thornton’s unit sought it, but was not found. He was officially listed as missing into action. His name was recorded on the walls of the disappeared in the American Cemetery of Normandy in Colleville-Sur-Mer, France.

On June 8, 1944, two days after day D, Graves Registry staff recovered a set of Omaha Beach remains that they could not identify, said the DPAA. The remains were buried in the American military cemetery Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer, near Omaha beach, and marked as X-159 St. Laurent.

In 1945, it was tried to identify the unknown remains, but the effort was not successful, said the DPAA. The analysts of the Graves American Registration command did not identify the remains again in 1947. Two years later, in 1949, a Board of Command officers recommended that the remains be declared unidentifiable.

In April 2022, two families, including Thornton’s, requested that X-159 be selfless. The families asked that the remains be compared to Thornton’s and another soldier. The remains were exhumed in September 2023 and transferred to the DPAA laboratory. The scientists performed dental and anthropological analysis and mitochondrial DNA analysis, said the DPAA.

Those efforts finally identified the remains as belonging to Thornton. A rosette will be placed next to his name on the walls of the disappeared to indicate that he has been counted, said the DPAA, and will be buried in the National Cemetery of Arlington in Washington, DC.

In:
• Second World War
• day d
• United States Army
• Virginia