Remains of WWII Soldier from ‘Merrill’s Marauders’ Identified

The U.S. military confirmed the identification of a World War II soldier’s remains, part of the ‘Merrill’s Marauders,’ more than 80 years post his disappearance. Joseph Gala from Lynn, Massachusetts, was pronounced killed in action on July 14, 1944. His remains were found several decades after he vanished during a mission in then-Burma, now Myanmar, as reported by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

Gala was only 21 at his time of death. Although records do not specify the details, he was last seen advancing towards a Japanese stronghold near Mankrin with his battalion. He served with an infantry unit known as ‘Merrill’s Marauders,’ named after their commander. The unit was tasked by President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a high-risk mission in the China-Burma-India Theater, described by the Army as a ‘forgotten theater’ in a 2016 article.

This mission, involving approximately 3,000 volunteers, left just 200 survivors returning home. Robert Passanisi, a survivor, recalled the unit’s arduous 1,000-mile march to disrupt Japanese supply chains in 2013. He noted, “It’s pretty well-known that nobody else ever did anything as strenuous, as enduring, and as difficult in such miserable terrain.”

The 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), or ‘Merrill’s Marauders,’ captured Myitkyina airstrip in May 1944 after defeating larger Japanese forces. Their efforts concluded with five major battles and 30 skirmishes. Sam Wilson, another Marauder, explained in 2016, “We were expendable. A plan existed on paper to get us into Burma, but no plan existed to get us out.” Each member later received a bronze star, and the Pentagon decreed none to re-enter combat.

Gala’s remains initially lay in Burma and India U.S. military cemeteries. They were then transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, known as the Punchbowl. In 2018, unidentified remains from the Punchbowl were exhumed to identify soldiers lost at Myitkyina. Using dental and forensic tests alongside ‘anthropological and circumstantial evidence,’ scientists identified Gala’s remains. He will be laid to rest in his hometown this Thursday, as per DPAA.