WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pvt. Edward M. Ryan, 33, of New York City, killed during World War II, was accounted for Nov. 3, 2021.
In July 1944, Ryan was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, which occupied defensive positions along the northwest coast of Saipan as part of a larger operation to secure the Mariana Islands. On the morning of July 7, the commanding general of the Japanese forces ordered a mass suicide charge of his remaining soldiers into the 105th’s line. Ryan was killed sometime during the attack. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater. They searched for and disinterred remains on Saipan, but could not identify any as Ryan. He was declared non-recoverable in 1949.
Remains identified as Unknown X-22 27th Infantry Division Cemetery were recovered and interred in the Fort William McKinley Cemetery, now the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in the Philippines.
After thorough historical research, it was determined that X-22 could likely be identified. On Jan. 23, 2019, Unknown X-22 was disinterred and sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.
To identify Ryan’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Ryan’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Ryan will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The date has yet to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty office at (800) 892-2490.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission for their partnership in this mission.
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.
Ryan’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000Xe2SEAS.