Remains Of Missing WWII Soldier Finally Coming Home To Riverside

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The remains of a missing U.S. Army soldier killed during World War II are finally coming home and being laid to rest in Riverside.

U.S. Army Pvt. Robert R. Gruwell, 20, of Los Angeles will be buried at Riverside National Cemetery on June 8 — nearly 79 years after his battlefield death.

Gruwell's remains will arrive at Ontario International Airport at approximately 2:30 p.m. Friday, according to a news release from Honoring Our Fallen. The charitable organization has asked the community to line the route from the airport to Evans-Brown Mortuary in Menifee where the soldier will be transported. The planned route is as follows:

• Moore Way, turning right on East Airport Drive
• Left on N. Archibald Avenue to eastbound Interstate 10, proceeding to southbound Interstate 15
• Eastbound state Route 60 and then to southbound Interstate 215
• Exit I-215 freeway at Ethanac Road, turn left
• Right onto Encanto Drive

Evans-Brown Mortuary is located at 27010 Encanto Drive.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's website, Gruwell was finally accounted for late last year. The agency explained that in the summer of 1944, the young soldier was assigned to Company G, 3rd Battalion, 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team.

On Aug. 15, 1944, his unit was part of Operation DRAGOON — the invasion of southern France to secure ports along the country’s Mediterranean coast. Specifically, the U.S. orders were to ward off German troops around LeMuy.

Gruwell’s unit landed near Callian early that morning, and he went missing sometime that day between Callian and LeMuy. He was never reported as a prisoner of war and no recovered remains were ever identified as his, according to the DPAA.

On May 15, 1945, Gruwell’s status was changed to killed in action even though his body was not found.

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command was charged with recovering the remains of fallen service members in Europe. Between July 1947 and October 1949, AGRC teams conducted several searches in the area where Gruwell went missing, but never found any remains that could be identified as his. He was declared "non-recoverable" on Aug. 1, 1951, according to the DPAA.

But prior, on Aug. 23, 1944, a team from the 11th U.S. Evacuation Hospital had interred a set of remains in what is now known as the Rhône American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery in Draguignan, France, according to the DPAA.

The service member was believed to have died around Aug. 16, 1944, and was so badly burned that he was unidentifiable. He was designated as "X-23 Draguignan."

DPAA historians continue to conduct research on those missing from Operation DRAGOON and their analysis of X-23’s file led them to associate the remains as possibly belonging to three soldiers — one of whom was Gruwell.

X-23 was disinterred from France in February 2020 and sent to the Hawaii-based DPAA Laboratory for analysis.

DPAA scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis, according to the DPAA.

With the help of science, Gruwell was finally accounted for on Sept. 12, 2022. The young soldier had served just 18 months in the U.S. Army at the time of his death. Nearly 79 years later, he will be laid to rest on home soil.

Gruwell's name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at the Brittany American Cemetery in Montjoie Saint Martin, France, along with others still missing from WWII. According to the DPAA, a rosette is placed next to his name to indicate he is now accounted for.