WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. Ben F. Leslie, 31, killed during World War II, was accounted for Feb. 14, 2025.
In April 1942, Leslie was assigned to Battery H, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment. He was held as a prisoner of war by the Empire of Japan in the Philippines from 1942 to 1944 when the Japanese military moved POWs to Manila for transport to Japan aboard the transport ship Oryoku Maru. Unaware the allied POWs were on board, a U.S. carrier-borne aircraft attacked the Oryoku Maru, which eventually sank in Subic Bay. The Japanese government reported that Leslie died aboard the Enoura Maru on January 9, 1945. He was declared non-recoverable on March 22, 1949.
This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Leslie's case will be published once the family receives their full briefing.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.