The remains of a US military aviator who went missing after his crew crashed during the second world war were recovered and identified through DNA analysis and his family recently laid him to rest in Florida, according to officials.

US navy airman Robert Cyr Jr’s burial in Clearwater, Florida, brought to an end a decades-long saga that began on 22 January 1944, when he and eight fellow crewmates crashed while they were onboard a seaplane as it took off in the Segond channel in what is now the south Pacific’s Republic of Vanuatu.

Three of those aviators survived; four were recovered in the days following the wreck; and Cyr, then age 19, was one of two who remained missing even after the war was over, US military officials said in a statement.

Researchers and divers from Sealark Exploration located and documented that wreck site in July 2022 during an underwater investigation conducted at the behest of the Defense POW/MIA accounting agency (DPAA), which dedicates itself to identifying US military personnel who are unaccounted for after past conflicts. The DPAA said a second group working with the agency, Cosmos Archaeology, later excavated the site on separate occasions in June 2024 and May 2025 – efforts which yielded possible human remains and bone tissue.

Armed forces medical examiner system scientists later used mitochondrial DNA analysis to conclude the remains were those of Cyr, the DPAA said. The agency also said its scientists used anthropological analysis along with material and circumstantial evidence to boost the confidence in the identification of Cyr.

The military held a funeral for Cyr on Saturday in the Tampa, Florida, suburb of Clearwater, where relatives of his live. And, after a funeral service involving a flag-draped casket, rifle volleys and the playing of taps, those family members described a sense of relief in getting the opportunity to bury Cyr with military honors.

His niece, Chickee Gould, told the Florida news outlet WTVT that Cyr’s mother never stopped believing he was out there “somewhere”.

Meanwhile, Gould’s son, Don Teague, added in his own comments to the outlet: “That’s the main thing – people don’t give up. And you don’t realize how hard they’re still looking after 80 years.”

The various military citations which Cyr earned included a Purple Heart, combat action ribbon and second world war victory medal, according to an obituary online. His name had been listed on the tablets of the missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. As is protocol, officials said they plan to place a rosette next to Cyr’s name indicating he has been accounted for.

Cyr was born in Philadelphia and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, before serving the US navy in the second world war. In a newspaper interview before his disappearance, Cyr described himself as an aviation radioman who enlisted when he was 17 and had covered about 112,000 miles on patrol flights in south-west Pacific combat areas.

He also recounted having seen the part of the battle for the Solomon Islands from the air.

“Our regular job is to spot the enemy’s position, course and probably objective and then get out of there if possible,” Cyr said at the time.

Cyr reported that he had lost 40 compatriots in patrol flights over the Solomon and Santa Cruz islands.

He also estimated that his patrol squadron saved more than 35 fellow aviators by picking them up after they had been forced down at sea.

Cyr’s survivors included his parents and his sister, all of whom died before the recovery of his remains, his obituary said.

Gould on Saturday said to WTVT that the thought of Cyr “going to be with his mother” brought her a measure of comfort.

“That’s, to us, the most important,” she remarked.