WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that United States Army Pfc. Charles N. Milam, 20, of Greenville, Mississippi, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 8, 2025.
Milam’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In January 1944, Milam was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. From late January through late May 1944, the 3rd Infantry Division fought in the Battle of Anzio in Italy. On January 31, Milam was reported missing during combat against German forces near the small hamlet of Ponte Rotto, close to the town of Cisterna di Latina (Cisterna). Members of his squad believed that he may have been killed in action by artillery at some point that day, but his body was not recovered. Having no evidence that Milam had survived the conflict, the War Department issued a presumptive finding of death on April 19, 1945.
After the end of hostilities, the American Graves Registration Service, U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the Mediterranean Theater. In July 1944, graves registration personnel recovered a set of remains, designated as X-462 Nettuno, near Ponte Rotto. However, the AGRS did not have enough data to positively identify the remains and interred them interred at U.S. Military Cemetery Nettuno, now Sicily-Rome American Cemetery. On Aug. 11, 1949, the Office of the Quartermaster General declared Milam non-recoverable.
As part of a comprehensive research and recovery effort focused on American soldiers missing from ground combat in Italy, DPAA historians and scientific staff recommended exhuming the X-462 remains for new analysis. In September 2021, the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission disinterred the X-462 remains from Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and transported them to the DPAA laboratory for forensic analysis.
To identify the remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis, mitochondrial genome sequencing data, and single nucleotide polymorphism analysis.
Milam’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Milam will be buried on a date yet to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa, https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.
Milam's personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XdpaEAC.
Read Milam's initial ID announcement here: Milam.