Recently identified remains of World War II Minnesota soldier to be buried on Veterans Day – West Central Tribune

FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY — The body of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Herman Jerome Sundstad, killed during World War II, will be interred Nov. 11 at Oakmont Memorial Park in Lafayette, California. Oak Park Hills Chapel, Walnut Creek, Calif., will conduct graveside services.

Sundstad, an infantry officer born in Perley, Minnesota, served with the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), also referred to as “Task Force Galahad” or “Merrill’s Marauders” in the China-Burma-India Theater. He was killed in action during the Battle of Myitkyina on 5 June 1944, at the age of 27.

According to U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Sundstad’s remains were accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on June 24, 2024, after being exhumed for laboratory purposes from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, in November 2021. analysis and description.

It was compared with DNA samples provided by close family members and was deemed compatible.

Sundstad is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and 6-year-old son, Denny. Two months after his death, his daughter Dianne was born.

Tracy Briggs has more than 35 years of experience in broadcast, print and digital journalism.