US soldier's remains found nearly 80 years after going missing in WWII
German Troops Drink At The Fountain In St. Peter's, Rome, World War II, 1944. (Photo by: Universal Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
A U.S. Army soldier from Massachusetts reported missing in action while his unit was involved in fighting against German forces in Italy during World War II has been accounted for, the military said.
The remains of Pvt. Wing O. Hom, of Boston, were identified in April using both anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Tuesday.
Hom, 20, went missing in February 1944 during fighting near the town of Cisterna di Latina, south of Rome.
Piazza Venezia packed with crowds on the day when Benito Mussolini announced Italy's entry into the war, June 10, 1940, Rome, Italy, World War II, 20th century.
A member of Company B, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division, Hom’s body was not recovered and he was never reported as a prisoner of war, officials said. He was declared dead in February 1945.
A set of remains recovered near the hamlet of Ponte Rotto, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) west of Cisterna di Latina, could not be identified and were ultimately buried at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy.
Those remains were disinterred and sent for analysis and identification in 2021 after a DPAA historian studying unresolved American losses during the Italian campaign determined they possibly belonged to Hom.
Hom will be buried in Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 11, the DPAA said.
Associated Press contributed to this report.