Did you know another missing American soldier has been identified?

You may have noticed from our regular reports (Read our earlier article) that modern DNA comparison technology really seems to have given a boost to the ongoing effort to identify the remains of unknown soldiers resting in foreign soil. This time, it was Private First Class Bartholomew Loschiavo from New York state who had a rosette added to his name on the Walls of the Missing in the Luxembourg American Cemetery, indicating that he had been found.
 
Loschiavo was born as the second youngest among 11 siblings to Sicilian immigrant parents and joined the army at the age of 20, in 1940, before America entered World War II. Sent to Europe with the 83rd Infantry Division, he went missing in action near the Luxembourgish town of Grevenmacher in late 1944. His body was found and buried by locals who did not know who he was. The grave was located by the U.S. Army in the late 1940s, but with no way to identify him, his remains were moved to a nameless grave in the Luxembourg American Cemetery.

The search for Loschiavo received new impetus from two of his great-nephews, Don and David Loschiavo, with the assistance of Footsteps Researchers, a group dedicated to helping families trace veteran relatives. The collected documents convinced the authorities to perform a DNA comparison between the unknown body and Loschiavo’s living relatives, and the results proved the man’s identity in April this year. The good news was announced by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the American Battle Monuments Commission (Read our earlier article).

Loschiavo was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, and his remains were laid to rest with his family. None of his siblings lived to witness his return home, but he has 16 living nephews and nieces, some of whom Don and David never spoke to before.

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