The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has announced that the remains of U.S. Army Pvt. James C. Loyd, a 19-year-old soldier from Brilliant, Alabama, has been identified. Loyd was last seen on January 31, 1944, during combat in Italy. His remains were officially identified on March 14, 2024.
In January 1944, Pvt. Loyd was serving with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in combat with German forces near Cisterna di Latina, Italy, as part of the Allied effort to advance from the Anzio beachhead. Loyd was reported missing during a reconnaissance patrol north of the village of Conca. His body was never recovered, and there were no records of him being taken as a prisoner of war. On April 19, 1945, the War Department issued a finding of death.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) worked to locate and recover missing American personnel in Europe. In 1945, investigators recovered a set of remains designated as “X-834” near the hamlet of Ponte Rotto, an area linked to Loyd’s last known location. Due to a lack of identifying evidence, the remains could not be confirmed as his and were interred at the U.S. Military Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, now known as the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery. In 1948, Loyd was officially declared non-recoverable.
Decades later, while researching unresolved casualties from the Anzio campaign, a DPAA historian identified a possible connection between X-834 and Pvt. Loyd. As a result, the remains were disinterred in September 2021 and sent to the DPAA laboratory for further analysis.
Forensic scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological examinations, along with mitochondrial DNA analysis conducted by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, to positively identify the remains as those of Pvt. Loyd.
Loyd’s name is inscribed on the Walls of the Missing at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, alongside other service members still unaccounted for from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate that he has been identified.
Pvt. Loyd will be laid to rest in Elwood, Illinois, in May 2025.
For information regarding his funeral arrangements, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
