FORT KNOX, Ky. –
The remains of U.S. Army Sgt. Ivor D. Thornton, 34, of Martinsville, Virginia, killed during World War II, will be interred Aug. 15 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. Everly Wheatley Funeral Home will coordinate graveside services preceding the interment.
On June 6, 1944, "D-Day," Sgt. Thornton landed on Omaha Beach with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regimental Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division. As part of the second wave of the invasion, Company H disembarked its landing craft around 7:00 a.m. Fellow soldiers last observed Sgt. Thornton wading ashore, but he was not seen thereafter.
On June 7, 1944, the day after the invasion, Thornton’s unit unsuccessfully searched for him. Consequently, the War Department listed him as missing in action. On June 8, 1944, graves registration personnel recovered a set of remains from Omaha Beach that they were unable to identify. They interred these remains in U.S. Military Cemetery Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, adjacent to Omaha Beach, and designated them X-159 St. Laurent.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Thornton on March 10, 2025. The Past Conflict Repatriations Branch, under the Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Division at the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky, plays a key role in the process of locating Family members of missing Soldiers from WWII, the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
For more information on DPAA’s efforts to identify Thornton, please visit
https://vngpao.info/ycktcwus.
Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home, 703-998-9200.