Soldier from legendary WWII Ranger unit recovered after 81 years

A soldier who died as one of Darby’s Rangers — the original World War II unit that modern Army Rangers trace their origins to — will finally be laid to rest in April.

Pfc. Robert L. Bryant was part of a four-man team that went missing in 1943 while searching for wounded comrades from 4th Ranger Battalion during heavy fighting in Italy.

Bryant’s remains were identified in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuna, a coastal Italian city outside Anzio. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said researchers there had “accounted” for Bryant last September among remains disinterred in 2022.
He will be buried in  Bloomington, Illinois, in April 2025.

Bryant’s nephew, James Bryant, said his grandparents never stopped hoping to get their son’s remains home. They sent numerous letters to the Army requesting that their son’s remains be found and brought home.