Dayton Polvado was drafted into the US Army March 25, 1942. He served in Company K, 3rd Battalion, 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division in the European Theater during World War II. He achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant.
He was at D-Day and landed at Utah Beach 12 hours after the assault began. His survival of D-Day can be attributed to both location (Utah Beach had far less casualties than Omaha Beach) and timing (not being in the first wave of soldiers coming ashore). Dayton was wounded and hospitalized in July 1944 (details unknown) but was returned to Company K. He went through the crossing of the Moselle River on November 9th and then the crossing of the Saar River near Dillingen, Germany on Dec 6th.

On December 12, 1944, Staff Sergeants Polvado and Zebulon Gilman were part of a platoon ordered to occupy a pillbox near Dillingen. Shortly after arriving at the position, a German counterattack hit the unit. Enemy troops succeeded in temporarily capturing the pillbox. Both men were last seen in foxholes beside the pillbox. When American forces secured the pillbox later, both soldiers were missing. Efforts to find the two men were unsuccessful, mainly due to the fact that the area was still under incessant German artillery fire. After several more days of fighting, the 90th Infantry Division retreated across the Saar before accounting for all its soldiers.

Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. Several teams went to Dillingen to recover American remains between 1946 and 1950. Investigation teams found the remains of several 90th Infantry Division soldiers killed at Dillingen in various cemeteries across the area. German soldiers or civilians had buried them after the 90th Division’s retreat in December 1944 and before American forces captured the town in March 1945. The AGRC moved the remains to the St. Avold Laboratory in France where S Sgt Gilman was identified but four other sets of remains could not be identified. They were buried as unknown soldiers in the Lorraine American Cemetery in Saint-Avold, France where Dayton’s name was listed on the Wall of the Missing. On October 8, 1951, an Army board of officers confirmed Dayton, along with 110 other missing soldiers from the Saar River, as “nonrecoverable”.

For Dayton’s courage and faithful service during World War II, he was awarded: the Bronze Star Medal for heroic and meritorious service in combat; and the Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters; signifying three separate wounds received in action.
Now, after 81 years, his homecoming brings peace and closure to the family who has carried his memory across the generations, honoring a legacy of bravery, sacrifice and devotion to his country

Ride Captain:

Bob “Pizza Man” Johnson
[email protected]

Instructions: