A World War II Marine Raider from Cincinnati who went missing during a brutal jungle assault in the Solomon Islands 83 years ago will finally return home after the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency confirmed his identification.
DPAA announced March 4 that Pfc. Norton V. Retzsch, 25, of Cincinnati, was accounted for on April 1, 2025. The agency used dental records, anthropological analysis and mitochondrial DNA sequencing to confirm his identity, finally bringing closure for a family that has waited decades for answers. His burial is scheduled for April 13 in Marana, Arizona.
Joining the Marines and Shipping to New Georgia
A 1937 graduate of Hughes High School in Cincinnati, Retzsch joined the Marine Corps in September 1941 at the age of 23.
He shipped out to the Pacific with Company C, 1st Marine Raider Battalion, 1st Marine Raider Regiment, one of the Corps’ elite units built for amphibious raids and jungle warfare behind enemy lines. On June 30, 1943, American forces launched Operation Toenails, a multi-pronged campaign to seize the Japanese-held island of New Georgia in the central Solomon Islands…