LUBBOCK, Texas — It’s been more than eight decades since Sgt. R.L. Tyler was declared missing in action during World War II. Now, thanks to advances in DNA technology and the unwavering determination of his family, the Lubbock-area soldier is finally coming home.
Sgt. Tyler’s remains were officially identified 83 years after his death, bringing long-awaited closure to a family that never gave up hope. This week, the West Texas community is preparing to give him the hero’s welcome he always deserved.
Born and raised on a family farm in O’Donnell, Texas, R.L. Tyler left home at just 19 years old.
“These are a couple of pictures from high school,” Jeff said, flipping through old family albums. “He was on the football team. I’m not sure which year this is. And this one was taken the year he graduated in 1939.”
R.L. Tyler dreamed of becoming a pilot.
“He wrote about really wanting to fly, and how that led him to join the Army Air Corps in the Philippines,” Jeff said.
He deployed to the Pacific Theater in 1940, two years before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was captured after the Battle of Bataan, surviving the grueling Bataan Death March, only to die in a prisoner of war camp in July 1942.
“He was buried in a mass grave with about 34 other men who all died in the same 24-hour period,” Jeff said. “And he was in grave number 312.”
For decades, all the Tyler family had was a letter from the U.S. Army, dated seven years after his disappearance.
“They said, ‘We’ve been doing all we can to try to identify your son’s remains. We just can’t say that we have them. But rest assured, if we ever find them, we’ll let you know,’” Jeff recalled.
It would be another 70 years before that promise was fulfilled, thanks to DNA testing. In 2019, the Department of Defense was able to match DNA samples from R.L. Tyler’s younger brother to remains recovered from the mass grave.
“They got a cheek swab from my dad, his brother, and with that they were able to identify two of his leg bones and one kneecap,” Jeff said.
What might not seem like much to some means the world to the Tylers.
“It’s closure of a sort. We’re finally bringing what remains we have home to put him to rest with the rest of the family,” Jeff said.
His remains are being flown from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency lab in Hawaii on Tuesday. They will arrive in Dallas Wednesday morning and will be escorted by honor guard to Lubbock. A memorial service and reinterment will be held Saturday in O’Donnell.
“Let’s bring him home,” Jeff said. “There’s a family plot at the cemetery in O’Donnell. His name is already on the headstone, in anticipation of his coming home. They never knew that he would. And so, we’re bringing him home.”
After more than 80 years, Sgt. R.L. Tyler will finally rest in peace, at home, in West Texas.
