The remains of a WWII soldier only recently identified, and who was born in Ohio County, will soon be buried in Hardin County.
In the summer of 1943, Pvt. Brooks was a member of Company I, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. His unit was part of Operation HUSKY, the Allied effort from July 10 to August 17 to capture Sicily from Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italian regime.
Brooks was killed by enemy machine gun fire during the Battle of Troina on August 1 while leading an advance against German forces as first scout, the DPAA said. His remains were unable to be recovered because of the fighting.
After the battle for Troina concluded, U.S. Army Graves Registration personnel worked to find and identify the remains of U.S. Service Members in the Troina area. Remains that could not be identified were eventually interred in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery as Unknowns.
“In 2016, DPAA historians began to investigate U.S. losses from the 1943 invasion of Sicily. During this research, one such Unknown was a candidate to match Pvt. Brooks,” according to the DPAA. “After extensive research and record comparison by DPAA historians and analysts, this set of remains was disinterred in June 2019 and sent to a DPAA for analysis. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established the remains as those of Pvt. Brooks.”
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
