Robert Cyr Jr laid to rest in Florida after WWII identification
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 5
Robert Cyr Jr laid to rest in Florida after WWII identification
7 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 5
The 19-year-old US Navy airman was buried in Clearwater on Saturday after DNA analysis linked remains recovered from a 1944 seaplane crash site in Vanuatu.
Researchers found the wreck in 2022, and excavations in 2024 and 2025 for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recovered remains and bone tissue later confirmed by mitochondrial DNA.
Cyr was one of two crew still missing after the crash, which killed several aboard; officials will now mark him accounted for at Honolulu's National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
How can AI and advanced DNA analysis help find the 71,000 service members still missing from World War II?
Why did the US dump millions in equipment in Vanuatu after WWII, yet now spends millions to recover one airman there?
How do missions to recover fallen soldiers in 54 countries also serve as a unique form of American diplomacy?