The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Wednesday that U.S. Army Technician Fifth Grade Daniel Wyatt, 39, of New Orleans, Louisiana, killed during World War II, has been accounted for.
Wyatt's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the summer of 1944, Wyatt was assigned to Company E, 364th Engineer General Service Regiment, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. On July 7, Wyatt was one of eight servicemembers killed in the Crisbecq Battery complex near Saint-Marcouf in Normandy, France, by an explosion that partially caved in the concrete roof of a captured enemy bunker that they were clearing.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command, U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. Despite its efforts, the command could not account for Wyatt's remains.
In October 2021, the private owner of a bunker in the Crisbecq Battery contacted the accounting agency to report that, while removing soil and debris from the structure, he discovered possible fragmentary human remains, as well as two identification tags from Soldiers who were killed in the explosion.
In 2022, an investigation team surveyed the bunker and took possession of the remains the landowner had recovered. In 2023, a recovery team returned to the site and located additional remains and material evidence, which were accessioned into the accounting agency's laboratory for analysis.
To identify Wyatt's remains, scientists relied on anthropological analysis and assessed circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial, Y-chromosome, and autosomal DNA analysis.
Wyatt's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Wyatt will be buried in Dallas, Texas on a date yet to be determined.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency, www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.
Wyatt's personnel profile can be viewed at DANIEL WYATT - Service Member Profile.
Read Wyatt's initial ID announcement here: Wyatt.
