“He was machine-gunned to death,” Holland said, reading the reports of the battle. “There were six infantrymen on the boat and the only one to survive was their captain.”
His body was never found.
Warren, and the others who died, are memorialized at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. He was awarded the Bronze Star, and was injured in separate battles — including the one that took his life — and was awarded the Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster.
Just a few weeks ago Holland, 72, received a call from the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch within the U.S. Army Human Resources Command out of Fort Knox, Kentucky. They’re asking for DNA samples from relatives for identification purposes.
It's been their job for nearly a decade to track family members of soldiers who were unaccounted for during past conflicts. The department is reaching out to thousands of families to collect DNA samples.
However, it’s going to be fairly difficult in Holland’s case.
Because her uncle didn’t have any children, both a sister and brother — or their offspring — must provide a DNA sample. Holland will be sending in her sample as the child of one of Warren’s sisters. However, she’s lost contact with uncles and their children over the years. She’s provided the department with their names and their last known contact information, but she hopes the Army can find them.
If the DNA samples are able to be collected, it will be compared to mitochondrial DNA samples recovered from unidentified remains. Mitochondrial DNA is the only genetic material that can be extracted from skeletal remains, and is only passed through material lines. DNA samples are collected by an oral swab.
This is the first time since her uncle’s death the military has contacted her family about locating Warren, so hope is now high for Holland. She will be able to bury the uncle who died a year before she was born, and just a few years after her mother had died.
Holland said her mother had always held out hope her baby brother had survived despite the eye-witness report to the contrary.
“She never accepted the fact that he was killed in the service,” she said. “Never. She always said, ‘He’s over there. He’s going to come home.’”
Officials with the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch told her they cannot confirm, nor deny, they have found his remains, but only that they are continuing to build a base of DNA samples. She was told it could take years but she doesn't think so.
“They’ve found something,” Holland said. “They’ve got to have found something.”
If they did find Warren’s remains, Holland said it would not only mean her family will have peace of mind, but “that means we can bring Bobby home.”
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