WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Capt. Paul E. Pearson, 38, killed during World War II, was accounted for March 18, 2025.
In April 1942, Pearson was assigned to II Philippine Corps on the Bataan Peninsula, in the Philippines. 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. Pearson was then transported to Takao, Formosa, known today as Taiwan, aboard the Enoura Maru. The Japanese reported that Pearson was killed on Jan. 9, 1945, when U.S. forces sank the Enoura Maru.
This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Pearson'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 their country, visit the DPAA website at or on social media at , , , or .