JULY 31, 2024, UPDATE:
Thanks to work started by the United States Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), a soldier from South Dakota killed in France during WWII has been identified and is back in the state where he will be buried.
The remains of 22 year old U.S. Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett were accounted for in May (May 20, 2024) and arrived in Pierre Wednesday (July 31, 2024).
Janet Bartlett from Blunt never met her Uncle Bob, but says the family appreciates all of the people involved in bringing him home.
Jessica West is a funeral director for Isburg Funeral Chapels and has been working with the military and the family on Corporal Bartlett’s final arrangements.
Bartlett says her uncle’s funeral will be held next weekend (Aug. 10, 2024, at 1pm CT) in Blunt (Methodist Church).
The Pierre-Fort Pierre Exchange Club posted flags across the Missouri River bridge between Pierre and Fort Pierre Wednesday (July 31, 2024) as a way to help welcome Corporal Bartlett home. Until his funeral, Corporal Bartlett will be lying in state at the Isburg Funeral Chapel in Pierre. People are welcome to stop by to pay their respects.
Learn more about Bartlett in his obituary.
The remains of Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett, killed in northern France during WWII, return to South Dakota for burial.
Photo credit: Jody Heemstra, DRG Media Group.
The remains of Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett, killed in northern France during WWII, return to South Dakota for burial.
Photo credit: Jody Heemstra, DRG Media Group.
The remains of Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett, killed in northern France during WWII, return to South Dakota for burial.
Photo credit: Jody Heemstra, DRG Media Group.
The remains of Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett, killed in northern France during WWII, return to South Dakota for burial.
Photo credit: Jody Heemstra, DRG Media Group.
The remains of Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett, killed in northern France during WWII, return to South Dakota for burial.
Photo credit: Jody Heemstra, DRG Media Group.
The remains of Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett, killed in northern France during WWII, return to South Dakota for burial.
Photo credit: Jody Heemstra, DRG Media Group.
The remains of Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett, killed in northern France during WWII, return to South Dakota for burial.
Photo credit: Jody Heemstra, DRG Media Group.
Janet Bartlett.
Photo credit: Jody Heemstra, DRG Media Group.
JULY 31, 2024:
Thanks to work started by the United States Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), a soldier from South Dakota killed during WWII has been identified and is coming home to be put to rest.
Jessica West is a funeral director for Isburg Funeral Chapels. She says the remains of 22 year old U.S. Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett were accounted for in May (May 20, 2024) and should arrive at their facility in Pierre today/Wednesday (July 31, 2024).
According to a news release from the DPAA, one of their historians studying unresolved American losses in the northern part of France (Saint-Germain-d’Elle area), determined that the (M5A1) Stuart tank recovered from the area belonged to Company A, where Bartlett was assigned. This correlation led DPAA and American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) personnel to exhume the remains of two previously unidentified soldiers (X-141 and X-142) in April 2018. The remains were sent to the DPAA laboratory where scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, circumstantial evidence and DNA analysis to identify Bartlett.
West says Bartlett’s remains are being escorted from Omaha, Nebraska, to Pierre.
West says Bartlett’s funeral will be held next month (Aug. 10, 2024, at 1pm CT) in Blunt (Methodist Church).
Incidentally, the Pierre-Fort Pierre Exchange Club has posted flags across the Missouri River bridge between Pierre and Fort Pierre Wednesday (July 31, 2024) to help welcome Corporal Bartlett home. Learn more about Bartlett in his obituary.
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JULY 30, 2024:
The Pierre-Fort Pierre Exchange Club is posting flags across the Missouri River bridge between Pierre and Fort Pierre Wednesday (July 31, 2024) to honor a soldier from South Dakota killed during WWII.
The remains of 22 year old U.S. Army Corporal Robert A. Bartlett are scheduled to arrive at a funeral chapel in Pierre today. His body was accounted for in May (May 20, 2024).
Funeral services for Bartlett will be Aug. 10, 2024, at 1pm CT at the Blunt Methodist Church in Blunt. Overflow seating will be available at the school gymnasium, where the service will be live streamed. Following the service, Bartlett will be laid to rest with full military honors at Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
Learn more about Bartlett in his obituary from the Isburg Funeral Chapel.
