Pittsburgh soldier killed in World War II to be laid to rest in St. Petersburg
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A World War II soldier from Pittsburgh who was missing in action for 80 years will be laid to rest after his remains were identified.
U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Gilbert H. Myers will be interred on Nov. 10 at Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Petersburg, the U.S. Army announced on Tuesday. Memorial Park Cemetery, Crematory & Funeral Home will perform graveside services after the interment.
Myers was co-piloting a B-25 Mitchell during a bombing mission over Sicily when he was hit, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
In 1994, American Graves Registration Service researchers learned that residents of Sciacca had found a body belonging to the B-25 pilot at a crash site. Investigators said they found more remains of the wreckage but nothing else.
Later in 1947, investigators conducted search and recovery operations near Sciacca, but the DPAA said they weren't able to find anything to link back to Myers.
In 2021 and 2022, the DPAA and partner organization personnel returned to Sciacca, where they were able to recover additional pieces of a plane wreck and human remains, which were sent to a lab for examination and identification.
Scientists used anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence to identify Myers. Other scientists also used mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosome DNA and autosomal DNA analysis. He was accounted for on Aug. 10.