The body of a World War II soldier from Central City who was declared missing in action has been recovered.
In September 1943, Burgess was assigned to Company B, 4th Ranger Battalion (“Darby’s Rangers”) in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II. He participated in Operation AVALANCHE, the amphibious invasion of Italy near Salerno, and engaged in fighting near the Chiunzi Pass on the Sorrento Peninsula, according to the DPAA.
On September 25, 1943, Burgess went missing in action following a patrol toward the village of Sala, Italy. His body was not recovered, and German forces never reported him a prisoner of war.
The War Department declared him non-recoverable on May 10, 1948.
The DPAA said that following the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the Mediterranean Theater. In 1947, AGRS investigators recovered remains from a cemetery in the village of San Nicola.
The remains were designated as X-152. The AGRS were unable to associate X-152 with nearby casualties, according to officials. The remains were interred at U.S. Military Cemetery, Nettuno, which is now Sicily-Rome American Cemetery.
In 2019, while studying unresolved American losses in Operation AVALANCHE, a DPAA historian compiled unit records, company morning reports and grave registration records that indicated Burgess was likely lost in the vicinity of the X-152 recovery location.
Members from the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) disinterred the remains in March 2022 and sent them to the DPAA laboratory for identification.
To identify Burgess’ remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and circumstantial analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
Burgess’ 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.
Burgess will be buried in Central City in May.
(Both photos of Pfc. Kenneth Burgess courtesy of the DPAA)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
