After being missing in action for 81 years, U.S. Army Sgt. Ivor Darrell Thornton of Ridgeway was identified and laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, Aug. 15.
Thornton, 34, was killed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944 — D-Day. He was assigned to Company H, 2nd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regimental Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division.
According to Honor States, a website dedicated to documenting fallen U.S. service members, Thornton died two days before his 35th birthday.
Thornton was not married and had no children. He was the son of James Stovall Thornton and Ida Carnie Young. At the time of D-Day, his brother, Technician Fourth Grade Geoffrey D. Thornton, was serving with the Fifth Army in Italy.
Before entering the service, Thornton worked in Fieldale for Marshall Fields. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Thornton was identified and accounted for on March 10.
D-Day
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. W.C. Fowlkes said Thornton was in one of the first boats to land on Omaha Beach.
As the boats approached shore, “they have a big kind of a gate, I guess, that they dropped down and then it’s there for them to rush off of the boat. When that wall fell for them to rush out, what they didn’t know was on the high banks of the river was the Germans overlooking them, and so they were, in essence, targets,” he said.
When he made it to shore, Fowlkes said Thornton was on one side of the wall of boats.
“His intent would most likely be to go around that side of the boat, that wall, that they were kind of concealed under. When that back opened up his intent was to just swirl around into the water — that was the best defense that any of them had,” Fowlkes said.
Fowlkes said Thornton did this as he hit the water and went under.
“The water wasn’t all that deep, but it was certainly deep enough to drown you. One of the pieces of information that I read indicated that as he hit the water, of course he went under, and they didn’t know if he was hit or if naturally, he would have gone under the water to start with. A guy was looking to see if he bounced back up, and he did,” he said.
When Thornton came back up, another soldier wasn’t able to tell if he had been hit.
“Everything was moving so fast, but they both reached out for each other. They were not able to grab each other. He (Thornton) went under and didn’t come back up,” Fowlkes said.
Because of this, Fowlkes said Thornton’s cause of death is unclear — he could have drowned or been hit by enemy fire.
“I don’t know exactly how long he was under water, but I can only assume it was days. It could have been days, it could have been weeks,” he said.
With the extra 40 to 50 pounds of equipment the soldiers carried, Fowlkes said it’s possible Thornton was held down by its weight.
“It was a very fast action activity there. The problem was no one could go looking for him. Every man — they were on their own looking for some type of coverage of protection, and they didn’t have anyone looking for someone. When you went under that water you were on your own,” he said.
The battle lasted the entire day.
In most cases, Fowlkes said, the deceased had no identification on them, and their gear was gone.
“My understanding was the guys were secured, and they were put in a temporary area. As far as I know, they were put individually in sort of a mass grave site and that’s where they’ve been all these years. I don’t know if there was an identifying marker, I just have no idea about that,” he said.
While some may think it was wrong that the deceased were placed in a temporary area, Fowlkes noted D-Day was the turning point in World War II in Europe.
“They recovered them and secured them. They had a war they had to win,” he said.
Identification
Fowlkes said identifying the deceased through DNA did not begin until 2018–2020, when proficiency in the process had improved.
As Thornton was unmarried with no children, any DNA matches had to come from his brothers’ children or cousins.
“In 2018–2020 they did follow up with some of the family members, and someone, I don’t know who it was, indicated they would like the individual body returned to the U.S.A. It would have been the family’s choice once it was identified whether it would go to Arlington or went to another cemetery,” he said.
With DNA identification, Fowlkes said anything beyond a second or third cousin is difficult to work with.
“Once you get beyond that in your family tree, it’s very hard for the DNA to work for you because they have a certain percentage of perfection I guess that they have to meet before they can declare it as a legitimate relation to him,” he said.
While not involved in the process, Fowlkes said his understanding is that a 60 to 65 percent match is required.
“If you get beyond a third cousin it’s going to drop very heavily below that,” he said.
As families dispersed and moved away, he said there are often difficulties locating relatives.
Eventually, cousins were located. Two were in Henry County, and a third was found in South Carolina.
Former Martinsville Mayor Danny Turner said it was originally thought Thornton’s remains were one of the two unidentified ‘Bedford Boys,’ also members of Company H.
“Bedford had the largest amount of soldiers killed, percentagewise, out of any government or municipality in the United States. They have identified everybody but two, and they were hoping it would be one of the two guys they were hoping to identify, but it wasn’t,” Turner said.
Burial
Turner said Thornton’s burial at Arlington went well, with Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs Craig Crenshaw presenting a flag on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Thornton’s funeral was an open casket.
“Everybody wanted to know how you do an open casket, but that’s how the military does it and the family was pleased with it. They didn’t have any problem with it,” Turner said.
The U.S. Army Pershing Band performed at the funeral.
“It was a solemn occasion. It’s always something special when you have a funeral at Arlington, and of course, this guy was killed in action and missing in action for 81 years, so it was a little bit different under those circumstances,” Turner said.
About 50 people attended.
Fowlkes said he met some of the cousins whose DNA was used to identify Thornton.
Turner said the funeral was almost a joyous event.
“It’s not like somebody had died all of a sudden. These people didn’t know this guy, but they took pride in the fact that when the country was in need that their family members stepped up and answered the call” and gave the ultimate gift for their country. “It wasn’t a sad occasion, it was kind of a relief that you’re taking care of something that needs to be taken care of,” Turner said.
In addition to family members and officials, Turner said members of the Bedford Boys Tribute Center attended.
“I felt that was very moving. I think there were as many people from Bedford County as there was from Henry County,” he said.
Proclamations on behalf of Henry County and the city of Martinsville were presented to Thornton’s family, Turner said. He asked and received help securing the proclamations from Henry County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Adams, Kathy Lawson, vice mayor of Martinsville and Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, then city manager.
