Seventy years after going missing on the island of Saipan, Army Pfc. Bernard Gavrin was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery's section 64 Sept. 12.
Gavrin was a member of the 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, when in July 1944, he was reported missing in action and subsequently listed as killed in action a year later. The Brooklyn, New York, native was 29 years old at the time of his disappearance.
His remains and personal effects were recovered in September of 2013 in an unmarked grave in the northern Mariana Islands by a private archaeological company. The remains were turned over to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command where dental records and DNA matches from a relative positively identified Gavrin.
Rabbi Marvin Bash talked briefly to family members and friends and explained the circumstances behind Gavrin's disappearance during the ANC graveside service.
"It is now 70 years later, but we have to go back in time to World War II and the invasion of the Mariana Islands," Bash said. "We again open the annals of World War II, and we open this ground for Bernard Gavrin."
Gavrin's nephew, David Rogers, was presented the coffin-draped flag at the conclusion of the service.
Soldiers conducting full military honors were from 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) and The U.S. Army Band, "Pershing's Own."
According to JPAC, more than 73,000 Americans remain unaccounted for from World War II.
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