A soldier who died as one of Darby’s Rangers — the original World War II unit that modern Army Rangers trace their origins to — will finally be laid to rest in April.
Pfc. Robert L. Bryant was part of a four-man team that went missing in 1943 while searching for wounded comrades from 4th Ranger Battalion during heavy fighting in Italy.
Bryant’s remains were identified in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuna, a coastal Italian city outside Anzio. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said researchers there had “accounted” for Bryant last September among remains disinterred in 2022.
He will be buried in Bloomington, Illinois, in April 2025.
Bryant’s nephew, James Bryant, said his grandparents never stopped hoping to get their son’s remains home. They sent numerous letters to the Army requesting that their son’s remains be found and brought home.
“They tried hard to get his remains brought back, and the fact that they were never identified was really … affected my grandmother a lot,” James Bryant said. “I mean, she never really talked about him, and she tried on a couple of occasions, sending letters [to find out where his remains were] to no avail.”
In the Ranger community, the return of a missing Darby soldier has a particular meaning, according to retired Command Sgt. Maj. William “Billy” Pouliot. He cited the Ranger Creed’s pledge to never leave a fellow Ranger behind.
“That really is the embodiment of who we were,” Pouliot told Task & Purpose. “That specific line, ‘I’ll never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy,’ really highlights the deep sense of loyalty and responsibility we have towards each other. Every one of our Ranger buddies, leaders, and our subordinates.”
The first Rangers
Few units in Army history are as revered as the World War II battalions known as Darby’s Rangers, the forebears of the modern 75th Ranger Regiment. Lt. Col. William Darby formed the first units in 1942 after his regular infantry troops trained with British Commandos in Ireland early in the war. Darby was impressed by the elite British troops and believed the U.S. Army needed a similar light-fighting force to specialize in high-risk missions
To set themselves apart, Darby’s units adopted the shoulder scroll for uniforms that Rangers still wear today.
Today, the first phase of Ranger School is held at Camp Darby on Fort Moore, Georgia, and is known as Darby phase. The school’s infamously fiendish obstacle course is known as the Darby Queen.
The original three battalions of Darby’s Rangers first saw combat in Africa. As a provisional unit, the Army only allocated 63 to 67 men per company in the units, versus the 193 in regular infantry companies at the time.
After Africa, Darby’s Rangers were in the vanguard of operations in Italy.
A lost patrol
Bryant enlisted in the Army on Dec. 7, 1939, and was later assigned to Company B, 4th Ranger Battalion. He was one of approximately 70 Rangers in his battalion, along with the rest of the Allied invasion force, who landed on the beaches close to Salerno, Italy, during Operation Avalanche.
“That operation allowed the rest of the Army to move through. I mean, they had planned it as a two-day mission, which ended up lasting more than two weeks,” Pouliot said. “They continuously fought off the German counterattacks and German defense and expanded their defensive offensive positions at the same time, and then broke through the [enemy] lines.”
Following the intense fighting to secure the beach and move inland, Bryant was part of a four-man patrol operating West of the city of Pietre, deep in enemy territory. According to James Bryant, they were searching for wounded Rangers. On Sept. 25, 1943, Bryant was reported KIA, according to historical records.
“It’s to the best of my knowledge, at this time, he was engaged in the task of evacuating wounded of Company B, fourth Ranger infantry battalion. On or about the indicated date, he was killed by artillery fire while thus engaged in the high mountains mass slightly northwest of Pulvica, from the position occupied by Company B on the 25th of September, direct observation of Salah was visible,” states Bryant’s company commander, Capt. Robert Neal, in the DPAA report. “As I said, to the best of my memory, this path was used by the Ranger force and elements of the 82nd airborne division to reach Salah on or about the 28th of September during the drive on Naples.”
For Pouliot, who spent 18 years in the 75th Ranger Regiment, the fact that Bryant’s patrol disappeared during combat makes his recovery particularly meaningful.
“So, had anybody, at the time, had the ability to make sure he wasn’t left behind, he surely wouldn’t have been left behind because of that deep sense of loyalty and responsibility we have toward each other, really ensuring that no one is left behind, even in the most challenging circumstances,” Pouliot said.
A search for remains
James Bryant said that the DPAA gave his family a briefing on the twists and turns of the search that led to his remains.
Bryan’ts company commander had noted that a nearby cattle farm held three graves, one of which he thought was Bryant’s. That turned out to be wrong, James Bryant said, according to the DPAA brief. In fact, Bryant’s remains were approximately two kilometers away, buried with no identifying markers.
In the years after the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) was tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the Mediterranean. In 1947, AGRS investigators recovered remains from a cemetery in the village of San Nicola, which were designated X-152, according to the DPAA. The team found that a board of officers had attempted to compare dental records with remains found but did not find a match, and voted on the decision to declare Bryant “non-recoverable.” That was made official on July 19, 1949, when the War Department declared Bryant “non-recoverable.”
The remains were interred at the U.S. Military Cemetery Nettuno, which is now called the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery.
72 years later, a DPAA historian studying American losses during Operation Avalanche compiled unit records, company morning reports, and grave registration records. The historian discovered that Bryant’s remains may have been associated with the vicinity where X-152 was recovered.
The Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission disinterred the remains in March 2022. They sent them to the DPAA laboratory for identification using anthropological and dental analysis and circumstantial analysis. The identification of Bryant’s remains was concrete after the scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
Bryant’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, and a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
James Bryant said his uncle’s remains will be buried in the same plot as his younger brother, James’ father, located in Bloomington, Illinois, on April 12, 2025. Bryant’s awards and medals are the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, American Campaign Medal, European, African, Middle East Campaign Medal with arrowhead and two bronze stars, World War Two Victory Medal, American Defense Service Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation for 4th Ranger Battalion, Combat Infantry Badge, and the Ranger tab.
“I have the utmost respect for that organization — the DPAA is just an amazing organization. They’re kind of behind the scenes and don’t get a lot of accolades for what they do,” Pouliot said. “Still, what they do for the families when they repatriate a soldier like Bryant is absolutely amazing. They bring closure to families they cannot get from anywhere else.”
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