Missing Since World War II, Fallen Southern Maryland Soldier Finally Comes Home

HUNTINGTOWN, Md. — This Memorial Day, a fallen hero from Southern Maryland will return home to his final resting place. In 1943, Private First Class James Roosevelt Heigh disappeared during his unit’s campaign to liberate Italy. He was 23 years old. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) successfully identified Heigh’s remains on May 2, 2025, and began the process of repatriating him to living relatives.

The DPAA is a military institution committed to locating and repatriating American service members. Their duties include finding and identifying remains. In 2025, a team of forensic archaeologists found Heigh and began looking for living relatives to receive his remains.

In 1941, Heigh and his wife, Henrietta, had a daughter named Pauline. Pauline later had a son, David Matthews, who DPAA contacted with the news that they had found his grandfather.

Heigh’s body arrived at BWI Airport on May 14, 2026. ABC Baltimore reported that Heigh was received by Matthews, his family, the Maryland Patriot Guard and Major General Janeen Birckhead, adjutant general of Maryland.

“It makes me proud just to know that I’m a small part of something so historical,” Matthews told ABC. “My mother was 3 when he was killed in action; it’s just an honor to bring home a hero.”

Heigh was born in Huntingtown, Md., on Dec. 12, 1920. He enlisted in the 371st Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division, a segregated unit of Black soldiers. In late 1943, the 371st deployed to Italy to break through Germany’s Gothic Line. On Nov. 5, 1943, Heigh was reported missing in action. After a year with no information about Heigh’s whereabouts, he was presumed dead by the Army.

Heigh was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals for his sacrifice, and his name is inscribed on the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial in Italy.

Heigh will be interred at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery, and he will be honored at a Memorial Day ceremony at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

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