Myles Wendall Esmay was a United States Army officer who was killed in Myitkyina, Myanmar on June 7, 1944 during World War II. His remains were identified on May 25, 2021.
Background[]
Myles Esmay was born in Utica, New York on March 10, 1917, to George and Ruth Esmay. When he was three, Ruth died from general peritonitis. He grew up with one brother, Robert, who died in 1942.
Myles was an active student at Utica Free Academy, being a member of the Punchinello Players, on the staff of the Academic Observer, treasurer of his class, leading man in his senior play, and of five students nominated for the annual Upson Oratorical prize. After graduating in June 1934, he worked at the Camden Wire Mill. Myles would receive a scholarship to
After working at the mill for two years, Myles received a scholarship to go to New York State College Forestry of Syracuse University at Syracuse, New York. While there, he was in the Reserved Officer Training Corps, the staff of Knot Hole, the Forestry Paper, and served both as director and then First Vice President of the Forestry Club. While he was a junior, he won the Pack Memorial Prize for the best essay on Forestry. He graduated with honors in June 1940.
At some point, Myles married a woman named Mary Ellen O'Hanlon. They had no children.
Military service[]
Myles enlisted in the United States Army on May 19, 1940. He became the first man from Utica to be accepted as an Air Cadet. Eventually, he became an infantry engineer and First Lieutenant of Company B, 236th Engineer Combat Battalion, reinforcing the 5307th Composite Unit AKA Merrill's Marauders. The Merrill's Marauders were a famous unit that was known for their missions behind Japanese lines and confronting superior Japanese forces compared to them during the Burma Campaign.
After the Marauders and Chinese forces captured the airfield near Myitkyina, Myanmar (then known as Burma) from the Japanese on May 17, 1944, the 2nd battalion was tasked with holding the airfield and taking part in the siege of Myitkyina. On May 28, the 236th Engineer Combat Battalion arrived at the airfield to help defend it and take part in the siege of Myitkyina. In addition to heavy Japanese forces, the Marauders and Chinese suffered through intense weather, lack of supplies, and rampant disease.
On June 4, 1944, the battalion attacked Japanese forces at Namkwi village, which was northwest of the airfield. The fighting lasted until June 7. On the last day of the battle, Myles was killed by a Japanese hand grenade when leading his company in an attack against Japanese forces. He was either buried in an isolated location or at one of the eight temporary cemeteries.
The Japanese commander escaped with about 600 of his men, while 187 Japanese soldiers were captured, and some 3800 men were killed in combat. The Marauders suffered 272o killed, 955 wounded, and 900 evacuated for illness and disease with some later dying from said illnesses and diseases. The Marauders would disband a week later with a total of a 130 combat-effective officers and men out of 2997 left.
Aftermath[]
Myles was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. He was also memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing Manila American Cemetery Manila, Philippines.
All of those buried at the eight temporary cemeteries or buried in an isolated location were reburied at the US Military Cemetery at Myitkyina. Between January and February 1946, all of the remains at the US Military Cemetery were disinterred and transferred to the US Military Cemetery at Kalaikunda, India. That cemetery was exhumed between September and October 1947. One set of remains, "X-64 Kalaikunda," was never identified and was buried at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, AKA the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii in March 1949.
Identification[]
On April 15, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency disinterred "X-64 Kalaikunda" from the Punchbowl and transferred the remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. To identify the remains, DPAA scientists used dental and anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Through these methods, Myles Wendall Esmay was identified on May 25, 2021. His identification was announced on June 3, 2021, and again on February 22, 2022. He will be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia at a date not yet determined.