Florence Gantt, a volunteer who consoles mourners at Arlington National Cemetery, speaks to David Rogers, the nephew of Pfc. Bernard Gavrin, who died in Saipan in 1944 and was buried Sept. 12, 2014. (Ron Kampeas)
An Army Casket team lays to rest Pfc. Bernard Gavrin at Arlington National Cemetery while Rabbi Marvin Bash looks on, Sept. 12, 2014. (Ron Kampeas)
ARLINGTON, Va. (JTA) — Bernard Gavrin, an American soldier declared missing in 1944, was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in a Jewish ceremony.
Gavrin was given full military honors on Friday and a flag was handed to his nephew, David Rogers.
Gavrin, a private first class, was part of an invasion force in Saipan, then occupied by Japan, in June 1944. Japanese forces subjected the forces to banzai, or suicide, attacks, and killed and injured over 900 U.S. soldiers.
Gavrin, 29, was reported missing on July 7 and declared presumed dead a year later.
A Japanese NGO last year uncovered remains in Saipan, now a U.S. territory, in an unmarked burial site.
Gavrin’s DNA matched Rogers, his nephew, now 82, who last saw Gavrin, his mother’s brother, just before Gavrin enlisted.
About 40 mourners attended the service at Arlington led by Rabbi Marvin Bash. The U.S. Army Band played “Yigdal Elohim Hai,” a hymn, and “America the Beautiful.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
