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Burial service to be held June 9 for Gravette WWII soldier killed in D-Day invasion
GRAVETTE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — After more than 80 years, a Northwest Arkansan hero is returning home.
Private Rodger Dean Andrews, a World War II soldier from Gravette, will be laid to rest with full military honors at 2:00 p.m. Monday, June 9, at Bethel Cemetery in Gravette, according to the Benton County Sheriff's Office (BSCO).
His remains, recently identified after decades of uncertainty, will arrive in Northwest Arkansas the evening of Sunday, June 8 and be received by Epting Funeral Home in Bentonville.
On Monday, the BCSO Motor Division will escort Private Andrews to his final resting place, joined by Military Honors and the Patriot Guard.
The procession will depart Epting Funeral Home (709 N. Walton Blvd, Bentonville) at 1:15 p.m. and follow this route:
South on N. Walton Blvd
Right on SW 14th Street (Highway 102)
Right on Highway 59 through Decatur
Right on Bethel Road in Gravette
Left into Bethel Cemetery
'Community members are encouraged to line the route and pay their respects to honor the life and service of Private Rodger Dean Andrews, a true American hero,' BSCO said in a Facebook post.
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The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced in a news release on October 2 that U.S. Army Private Rodger D. Andrews, 19, was accounted for on June 5.
Andrews was assigned in June 1944 to Company C of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion in the European Theater. On June 6, 1944, American, Canadian and British forces came ashore on the beaches of Normandy in France during Operation Overlord.
The release said that at some point during the battle, Andrews was killed, but due to the chaos, it is not known what happened to him.
Private Rodger Dean Andrews' remains were recovered after D-Day but went unidentified for decades. In 2014, his family requested renewed efforts. A belt with his initials helped prompt a review, and in 2019, the remains were exhumed.
Scientists confirmed his identity through dental and anthropological analysis. A rosette will now mark his name at the Normandy American Cemetery.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during her remarks at the 2025 Memorial Day Observance at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock that U.S. Army Private Rodger D. Andrews, 18, will be laid to rest at a family plot on June 9, more than 81 years after his death.
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