U.S. identifies remains of World War II soldier from iconic “Merrill’s Marauders” unit

Updated on: November 5, 2026 / 9:54 AM EST / CBS News

The United States military announced Wednesday that it has identified the remains of a soldier who belonged to the iconic "Merrill's Marauders" unit during World War II, more than 80 years after his disappearance.

Joseph Gala, of Lynn, Massachusetts, was declared killed in action on July 14, 1944, two months after he went missing during a mission in what was then Burma, now Myanmar, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Gala was 21 when he died. Although the circumstances of his death were never recorded, he was last seen advancing with his battalion toward a heavily-fortified Japanese area near the village of Mankrin, the military said.

Gala had fought alongside a volunteer infantry unit that came to be known as "Merrill's Marauders," named after its commander. The battalion was solicited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to fulfill a "secret and dangerous mission" in the China-Burma-India Theater — the war's so-called "forgotten theater," as the Army described it in a 2016 article. About 3,000 young men volunteered for the mission, and just 200 returned home.

"Those that volunteered had no idea what the mission was going to be,"…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/