Central City, USA – The remains of a World War II soldier from Central City who was declared missing in action have been identified and will soon be laid to rest in his hometown.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on Thursday that U.S. Army Pfc. Kenneth D. Burgess, 29, was officially accounted for on September 13, 2024.
Burgess was assigned to Company B, 4th Ranger Battalion, known as “Darby’s Rangers,” in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II. In September 1943, he participated in Operation AVALANCHE, the amphibious invasion of Italy near Salerno, and fought near the Chiunzi Pass on the Sorrento Peninsula.
On September 25, 1943, Burgess went missing in action following a patrol near the village of Sala, Italy. His body was never recovered, and German forces did not report him as a prisoner of war. The War Department ultimately declared him non-recoverable on May 10, 1948.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) was 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, designating them as X-152. However, they were unable to associate the remains with any known casualties, and they were interred at the U.S. Military Cemetery in Nettuno, now known as the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery.
In 2019, while reviewing unresolved American losses from Operation AVALANCHE, a DPAA historian compiled unit records, company morning reports, and grave registration records. The research suggested that Burgess had likely been lost near the location where X-152 was originally recovered.
In March 2022, members from the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) exhumed the remains and transferred them to the DPAA laboratory for identification. Scientists used anthropological and circumstantial analysis, along with mitochondrial DNA analysis conducted by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, to confirm Burgess’ identity.
Burgess' name is inscribed on the Walls of the Missing at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy. A rosette will now be placed next to his name to signify that he has been accounted for.
His remains will be returned to Central City for burial in May, allowing his hometown to finally honor the soldier who gave his life more than eight decades ago.
He will be laid to rest in May in Central City.
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