NEW YORK (AP) — The remains of a Brooklyn man missing in action since World War II have been identified.
The Department of Defense’s POW/Missing Personnel Office announced Wednesday that Army Pfc. Bernard Gavrin of Brooklyn will be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on Sept. 12.
Gavrin was 29 when he was reported missing on July 7, 1944.
His regiment had been in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands of the western Pacific Ocean.
He was declared dead in July 1945. A few years later his remains were deemed non-recoverable.
But the remains and some personal effects were found by a Japanese organization in 2013. DNA from a family member was used to confirm his identity.
Gavrin’s nephew, David Rogers of Delray Beach, Florida, says it’s “absolutely incredible.”
