Memorial

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1st Lt Ernest L. Roth graduated at the Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, California with the class of 194,1 attended college for 1 year and was a clerk

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Los Angeles, California on 13 May 1942.

The airplane was hit in the nose by flak and n° 3 blew off. It exploded and crashed. Six crew members were killed, four were taken prisoner.

Lt Roth was initially buried at the POW Cemetery in Elsgrund-Döberitz on 24 May 1944. Records indicate that during disinterment of the American decaesed late November, begin December 1946, his identification tag was found in the dirt by a foot. Apparently his remains were never identified.

In June 1951, again an investigation was conducted to find several American deceased at the grounds where the POW Cemetery of Döbertiz was situated. The former caretaker, however, stated that the Americans exhumed their remains in 1947, in 1948 the French and in 1949 the Italians, Germans and Russians completely exhumed the cemetery. This was done systematically, field by field, row by row. In late 1949 the former cemetery site was returned to its German owner. In 1951 it was planted with potatoes. The conclusion of the investigation was that when the cemetery finally was disinterred all remains left, were evacuated to Russian or German Honor cemeteries and buried in unmarked graves.

At a certain time, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing Americans. The AGRC did not find Roth in the grave in which he was reportedly buried, but instead recovered two other American service members whose plane had gone down on the same day. They did find a set of unknown remains designated X-4801 Neuville in a grave nearby that was thought to either be Roth or one other American. However, the AGRC was unable to determine which person it definitively was, and so concluded X-4801 Neuville was unidentifiable.

In 2016, DPAA historians began focused research on eight sets of unknown remains recovered from Döberitz. One historian reconstructed the cemetery plot map with data from several sources, and concluded there were four possible casualties that could be associated with X-4801 Neuville. In June 2018, the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) exhumed X-4801 and transferred the remains to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

To identify Roth’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, along with circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Roth’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Roth will be buried in his hometown. The date has yet to be determined (March 2020).