Identification of D-Day Victim from Virginia After 81 Years

A soldier from Virginia who perished during the D-Day operation was finally identified after more than eight decades, according to officials.

U.S. Army Sergeant Ivor D. Thornton, who was 34 at the time, arrived on Omaha Beach with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, which was part of the 29th Infantry Division, during the second wave of the pivotal WWII invasion. This event, famously known as Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944, marked a major campaign against the Nazi occupation of Europe.

The landing commenced around 7 a.m., and Thornton was last seen disembarking the landing craft with his unit. Subsequent searches by his fellow soldiers the following day did not locate him, leading to his designation as missing in action. His name was subsequently memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

On June 8, 1944, two days after the invasion, unidentified remains were discovered on Omaha Beach by graves registration teams. These remains were buried in the U.S. Military Cemetery Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer close to Omaha Beach and labeled as X-159 St. Laurent.

Efforts in 1945 and later in 1947 to establish the identity of the remains were unsuccessful. Finally, in 1949, a panel concluded that these remains were unidentifiable at the time.

In April 2022, Thornton’s family, along with another, petitioned for the exhumation of X-159 for comparative analysis with DNA from both families. The remains were exhumed in September 2023, and experts performed dental and anthropological examinations, along with mitochondrial DNA testing.

These comprehensive efforts identified the remains as belonging to Thornton. His name on the Walls of the Missing will now be accompanied by a rosette, signifying that he has been accounted for. His burial will be at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.