Nearly eight decades after he gave his life for his nation, the partial remains of a New Jersey soldier who had been declared killed in action in 1944 have finally been identified.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has now accounted for U.S. Army Pvt. Roman Cherubini, a 22-year-old twin and World War II soldier from Bridgeton.
Cherubini was serving with the 475th Infantry Regiment in the China-India-Burma Theater when he was killed.
His remains were said to have been buried in at least eight different locations, including the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2022, the DPAA had his remains exhumed and tested.
Late last year, an identification was made using dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.
The DPAA said Cherubini “fought in a series of running battles against numerically superior Japanese forces in the jungles of Burma in 1944. The light infantry formation, known as Merrill’s Marauders, was equivalent to a regular regiment in size and was specialized for jungle fighting behind enemy lines.”
Merrill’s Marauders entered Burma in February 1944 and “began assaulting the supply lines of the Japanese 18th Division in the Hukawng and Mogaung valleys.”
On May 17, the Marauders seized a strategic airfield near the village of Myitkyina with the help of two Chinese infantry regiments. Japanese forces in Myitkyina were finally routed on Aug. 3 after more than two months of grueling jungle combat.
He died June 16, 1944, in the midst of the battle for Myitkyina, but the exact circumstances around his death are unknown.
The remains of servicemen killed in that battle were buried in temporary cemeteries as well as isolated burial locations.
“Their mission complete, Merrill’s Marauders were disbanded. They had marched 750 miles through the jungle and fought in five major engagements. Over two hundred of the Marauders were killed by disease and enemy action, and many were lost in the back-and-forth battles in harsh jungle terrain,” according to the agency.
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