After his death 79 years ago, RI soldier killed in World War II identified and laid to rest

Army Private First Class Roy J. Searle, just 22 years old, said goodbye to his wife, parents and twin brother when he left Johnston's Graniteville village to fight in World War II.

Killed in Germany, Searle would never see Rhode Island again, and his family members died without seeing his body returned to the country for which he gave his life.

Finally, 79 years after he left Rhode Island, his remains returned to the United States last week and were buried with military honors at a ceremony in Lake Worth, Florida. Scientific analysis and a cousin born after he died helped in the identification of his remains.

"I truly believe when you send someone to war, you have the responsibility to bring them home," Searle's cousin Betty Rhodes said Monday from her home in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Rhodes grew up in Smithfield, about 15 minutes from Searle's family, and would visit them often when she was a child.

"They would talk about Roy, and they would send me out to play," Rhodes said. "It was a terrible loss for his mother and father and brother, especially."

At the time of his death, Searle's survivors included his wife, Gertrude A. Searle, his parents, Harvey and Mabel Searle, and his twin brother, Raymond Searle, according to the Boynton Memorial Chapel, which handled his arrangements.

Searle's remains were left behind and declared 'non-recoverable'

Searle was mortally wounded in heavy fighting on Dec. 9, 1944, after his unit crossed the Saar River and tried to capture and hold the two "heavily defended towns" of Pachten and Dillingen, about 360 miles southwest of Berlin, according to the U.S. Department of Defense's POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Later that month, Searle's 90th Infantry Division was ordered to withdraw to help with the American effort in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge, which prevented Searle's unit from recovering Searle's body and those of other fallen soldiers.

After the war ended, the American Graves Registration Command conducted several investigations in the Pachten-Dillingen area from 1946 to 1950, but they were unable to recover or identify Searle’s remains, the DPAA said. He was declared non-recoverable in October 1951.

Once unknown, DNA helped identify his remains decades after his death

Years later, while studying unresolved American losses in the Pachten-Dillingen area, DPAA historians analyzed documentation related to a set of unidentified remains recovered in 1946 from a civilian cemetery in Reimsbach, Germany, the DPAA said. Several sets of remains recovered from that cemetery were those of the 90th Infantry Division members killed at Pachten and Dillingen and buried by German forces after the fighting, the DPAA said.

Historians determined that the remains, which had been removed from Germany and buried as an Unknown at the Normandy American Cemetery in France, could be associated with Searle. His remains were disinterred in June 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification.

Searle's remains were positively identified in September 2022. To make the identification, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, and scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA, Y chromosome DNA and autosomal DNA analysis, the DPAA said.

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Searle's cousin, born after he died, helped ensure his burial in Florida

When the military contacted Rhodes to ask if she would receive Searle's body for burial, she said, "Yes, of course."

In arranging the services, she had a lot of help from her son Mark Pelletier, of Smithfield, and members of the military.

"He's buried in South Florida National Cemetery, which is a beautiful place," Rhodes said. "He's buried in a special section for heroes, so I think that's really cool."

The honors for Searle began even before his burial, which was Sept. 13. A service member flew with Searle's body to Palm Beach Airport. More military members were at the airport to greet Searle's body and put it in the hearse. Members of the airport ground crew saluted, and the pilot thanked Rhodes for the honor of flying Searle's remains.

Searle received an escort from military, police and sheriff's department vehicles from the airport to the Boynton Memorial Chapel and later to the cemetery. As the hearse carrying Searle's casket left the airport, two fire trucks parked on either side of the gates fired a water cannon salute over the passing vehicle.

"It was just beautiful," Rhodes said.

Rhodes was presented with her cousin's Purple Heart, Bronze Star and campaign medals. She doesn't feel it's right for her to keep them, and so she said her son is looking for a museum that would take and display them.

Rhodes said, "I feel like they belong to everyone who served in World War II."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island soldier killed in World War II identified, returned to US