WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Pfc. St. Clair M. Gibson, 30, of New Haven, Connecticut, missing in action during World War II, was accounted for May 7, 2025.
Gibson's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In September 1943, Gibson was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 371st Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division. Because the U.S. Army maintained racial segregation during the war, the 92nd Infantry Division's enlisted force was composed entirely of African American soldiers with mostly white officers. Between September 1944 and April 1945, elements of the 92nd Infantry Division were involved in heavy combat against Axis forces in northern Italy. On Nov. 18, 1944, Gibson went missing in action during combat near Monte Canala in the northern Apennine Mountains, west of Seravezza, Italy. His remains were not recovered.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service, U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with the investigation and recovery of missing Americans in the Mediterranean Theater. The AGRS dispatched search teams to battlefields throughout Italy, and one set of remains, designated X-272 Castelfiorentino (X-272), was recovered from Monte Canala. However, the AGRS could not identify the remains at the time. The X-272 remains were interred at Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta Italy, and on July 8, 1949, the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps declared Gibson's remains nonrecoverable, ending all active searches for him.
As part of a comprehensive research and recovery effort focused on American soldiers missing from ground combat in Italy, DPAA researchers and scientific staff recommended exhuming the X-272 remains for new analysis. In July 2017, the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) disinterred the X-272 remains from Florence American Cemetery and transported them to the DPAA laboratory for forensic analysis.
To identify Gibson's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and nuclear single nucleotide polymorphism analysis.
Gibson’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Gibson will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on March 10, 2026.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
For additional information on the War 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.
Read Gibson's personnel profile here: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001nzSU3EAM