The remains of a US navy airman who went missing during the Second World War have been identified through DNA analysis and laid to rest in Florida, bringing closure to a decades-long mystery. Robert Cyr Jr, then aged 19, was one of two crew members who remained unaccounted for after his seaplane crashed in the South Pacific on 22 January 1944.
The crash occurred in the Segond Channel, now part of the Republic of Vanuatu, during take-off. Three of the nine aviators survived, and four were recovered soon after, but Cyr and another crewmate were listed as missing. The wreck was located in July 2022 by researchers from Sealark Exploration, working with the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
Subsequent excavations by Cosmos Archaeology in June 2024 and May 2025 yielded possible human remains and bone tissue. Mitochondrial DNA analysis, along with anthropological and circumstantial evidence, confirmed the remains belonged to Cyr, the DPAA said.
A funeral with full military honours was held on Saturday in Clearwater, Florida, where Cyr's relatives live. His niece, Chickee Gould, told local news outlet WTVT that Cyr's mother never stopped believing he was out there 'somewhere'. Gould's son, Don Teague, added: 'That's the main thing – people don't give up. And you don't realise how hard they're still looking after 80 years.'
Cyr, originally from Philadelphia and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, enlisted at 17 and served as an aviation radioman. He earned several citations, including a Purple Heart. His name had been listed on the tablets of the missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu; officials plan to place a rosette next to it indicating he has been accounted for.
