One of World War II's most enduring mysteries has been resolved with the identification of U.S. Army soldier Joseph Gala, who went missing over 80 years ago in Burma, now Myanmar. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on November 4th that Gala's remains were identified on September 10, 2025.
Gala, a member of the elite "Merrill Marauders" unit, was declared killed in action on July 14, 1944, two months after he disappeared during a mission. The precise circumstances of his death at age 21 were never officially recorded.
Scott DeGregory, a family member of Gala, expressed honor that the soldier could finally come home. "They tried to figure out for years and years whatever really happened to him," DeGregory told WCVB. "We're very honored that he is able to finally come home."
Gala was last seen in the village of Mankrin while fighting with the "Merrill Marauders," a volunteer infantry unit created for a perilous mission in the China-Burma-India theater. The U.S. Army describes this region as the "forgotten theater" and the unit's mission as "secret and dangerous."
Approximately 3,000 men volunteered for the Marauders, with only about 200 returning. A former Marauder soldier, Sam Wilson, recounted to the U.S. Army, "We were expendable. A plan existed on paper to get us into Burma, but no plan existed to get us out."
Following the battle, all servicemen's remains were transferred from Burma to India in 1946. Unidentified remains were later moved to Hawaii for further analysis in 1947. Some of these unidentified remains were eventually buried as World War II Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
Scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, along with circumstantial evidence and DNA testing, to identify Gala's remains. He was finally laid to rest with full military honors at Pine Grove Cemetery in Lynn, Massachusetts, on November 5.
"Welcome home, Private Gala. Your sacrifice, your courage, and your service will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, hero," wrote Bob Smith, an attendee at Gala's burial.
