WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Capt. Ralph L. Rowland, 43, of Santa Cruz, California, killed during World War II, was accounted for March 18, 2025.
Rowland’s family recently received their full briefing on is identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In May 1942, Rowland was assigned to Signal Company, Aircraft Warning, Philippines Department 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. Rowland was then transported to Takao, Formosa, known today as Taiwan, aboard the Enoura Maru. The Japanese reported that Rowland was killed on Jan. 9, 1945, when U.S. forces sank the Enoura Maru.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel. In May 1946, AGRC Search and Recovery Team #9 exhumed a mass grave on a beach at Takao, Formosa, recovering 311 bodies. Following unsuccessful attempts to identify the remains, they were declared unidentifiable and buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
Between October 2022 and July 2023, DPAA disinterred Unknowns from the NMCP linked to the Enoura Maru. The remains were accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory for further analysis.
To identify Rowland’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial, nuclear, and autosomal DNA analysis.
Rowland’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in the Philippines, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Rowland will be buried in Santa Cruz, California, on a date yet to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
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 www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa, https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.
Rowland’s personnel profile can be viewed at: Capt. RALPH L ROWLAND - Service Member Profile
Read Rowland’s initial ID announcement here: Rowland.