Sailor Whose Remains Were Found 81 Years After His WWII Death To Be Buried In FL

CLEARWATER, FL — A World War II sailor who disappeared during a combat mission in the South Pacific more than 80 years ago will be buried with full military honors on Saturday in Clearwater, the New Haven Register reported.

He’ll be laid to rest with his family at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park, his obituary said.

The remains of U.S. Navy Aviation Radioman 2nd Class Robert L. Cyr Jr. were accounted for on Nov. 5, according to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency news release.

On Jan. 24, 1944, Cyr, then 19 years old, and eight crew members assigned to Navy Patrol Squadron 911 were on board a PBY-5 Catalina seaplane that crashed during takeoff in the Segond Channel in New Brides, now the Republic of Vanuatu.

Three of the nine crew members survived and four were recovered in the days following the crash, the agency said. Two, including Cyr, weren’t recovered.

Born on June 14, 1924, in Philadelphia, Cyr was raised in Hartford, Connecticut, his obituary said.

After the war, he was awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the Navy Expeditionary Medal.

For the past 81 years Cyr has been memorialized on Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In addition to his parents, his sister, Dorothy Cyr and her sons, Robert L. Corrado and Anthony J. Gould, died before his remains were recovered.

He is survived by his niece, Chickie Gould; 10 great nieces and nephews; 14 great-great nieces and nephews; and 12 great-great-great nieces and nephews.