NEW MADISON, Ohio — A New Madison, Ohio, sailor who died on June 8, 1944, aboard the USS Glennon just off the French coast near Normandy is set to be buried at 11 a.m. on June 29 at the Green Mound Cemetery in New Madison.
Harley Alexander held the rank of Coxswain and served on the Glennon, which was a Gleaves-class destroyer, according to an info sheet provided by the Navy.
The ship had been part of Operation Neptune during the World War II D-Day landings. It had been patrolling for enemy submarines and providing shore fire support. On June 8, 1944, a mine exploded near the back of the ship, causing 16 sailors to be hurled into the water.
Sailors were rescued, but there was some flooding in some ship compartments. The crew was evacuated, leaving some behind to guard. In the morning on June 10, the Germans fired artillery at the ship, and the crew abandoned the ship. It eventually sank in the evening that day.
According to the fact sheet, they listed 25 missing and 38 wounded from the ship. It notes that no deceased men had been recovered from the ocean.
“With no further information available on the fate of Cox Alexander, officials determined his remains to be non-recoverable on May 4, 1949, and the status of non-recoverability was declared final on Nov. 30, 1950,” the fact sheet reads.
Post-war recovery teams searched along the coast of France and found the remains of five sailors from the ship, but there was nothing regarding Alexander. More remains were found inside pieces of the ship’s wreckage, determined to be the remains of two people. They were “interred as Unknowns.”
Much later, in 2021, researchers continued looking into these remains. Records indicated there had been a ring with the engraving HEA.
“Based upon the recovery of X-9296 and X-9297 from the wreckage of Glennon, Cox Alexander’s service on board the ship at the time of his death, and historians’ comprehensive research into the sinking of the ship, the Europe-Mediterranean Directorate concluded a connection between Coxswain Harley Edwin Alexander and the remains designated CIL 2022-219-I-02 was likely,” the fact sheet reads.
It states that Alexander's death was officially accounted for on March 22, 2024.