Remains of Iowa WWII soldier killed on D-Day identified
WASHINGTON — The remains of an Iowa soldier who was killed in World War II have been accounted for, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
U.S. Army Pvt. James L. Harrington, 21, of Cincinnati, Iowa, was part of operations to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France. Harrington, a member of Company A, 149th Engineer Combat Battalion, was on a Landing Craft Infantry 92 headed for the beach when it struck an underwater mine, causing the craft to burst into flames. Enemy artillery fire also struck the craft, causing an explosion that ignited the ship's fuel supply, immediately killing everyone in the troop compartment.
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The burnt remains of servicemen were found in the troop compartment and recovered on June 10, 1944. They were first buried at the United States Military Cemetery St. Laurent-sur-Mer. In 1946, the American Graves Registration Command examined the remains and separated them into four separate Unknowns. Efforts to identify the Unknowns were unsuccessful and they were interred in the Normandy American Cemetery, in France.
The DPAA and officials with the American Battle Monuments Commission exhumed the remains in 2021 and scientists from the DPAA laboratory conducted anthropological analysis. The mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA were further analyzed by scientists with the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System in order to identify Harrington's remains. The DOD says he was accounted for on August 21, 2023.
Harrington will be buried in his hometown of Cincinnati at a later date.
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