Army Air Force Staff Sgt. Tarbert, killed in WWII, accounted for

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Force Staff Sgt. John A. Tarbert, 24, of Port Deposit, Maryland, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 10, 2024.

In late 1944, Tarbert was assigned to the 703rd Bombardment Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force in the European Theater. On Sept. 27, Tarbert, a waist gunner onboard the B-24J Liberator Mairzy Doats, was killed in action when his plane was hit by heavy anti-aircraft fire over Bassenheim, Germany.

In February 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, recovered unidentified remains recovered from the Bassenheim Cemetery. These remains, X-2360 Margraten (X-2360), were reportedly removed from an aircraft crash by villagers after a crash in late Sept. 1944.

Later, in 1951, a team visited the crash site and recovered remains from the crater, designated X-9048 Liege (X-9048). At the time, an identification of X-2360 was made for the missing Mairzy Doats tail gunner. Identification of the other remains was not possible, and they were transferred to what is now the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial, Carthage, Tunisia.

DPAA historians determined a strong possible connection between X-9048 and Tarbert was possible. In Sept. 2022, Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission personnel, exhumed X-9048 from the North African American Cemetery and transferred them to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis and identification.

Also in Sept. 2022, DPAA sent an investigation team, which included Army Geospatial Center personnel, to investigate a crash site outside Bassenheim believed to be that of Mairzy Doats. Remains recovered from the crash site were sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis and identification.

To identify Tarbert’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Tarbert’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Luxembourg American Cemetery, Luxembourg, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Tarbert will be buried in Schuylerville, New York, on Nov. 8, 2024.