WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Lee I. Clendenning, 23, of Rib Lake, Wiscosin, killed during World War II, was accounted for on March 11, 2025.
Clendenning's family recently received their full briefing on is identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared
During World War II, Clendenning was assigned to 23rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 5th Bombardment Group at Hickam Airfield on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. On. Dec. 7th, 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese aircraft expanded to Hickam Field, targeting U.S. aircrafts and ships, barracks, supply buildings, and the base chapel. The attack lasted four hours. Clendenning was reportedly killed during this time.
In the days following the attack, Navy personnel recovered the remains of U.S. Army and U.S. Army Air Forces casualties, which were subsequently interred in the Schofield Barracks Cemetery.
In August 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel from World War II, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the Schofield Cemetery and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was unable to confirm the identifications of 12 men from the Hickam Field attack at that time, including one set of remains designated X-199. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In June 2019, DPAA personnel began exhuming the 12 Schofield Barracks Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis. X-199 was disinterred in 2020 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory.
To identify Clendenning’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and dental analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA analysis.
Clendenning’s name is recorded in the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Clendenning will be buried in Rib Lake, Wisconsin in September 2025.
For family and funeral information, contact the U.S. 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.
Read Clendenning's initial ID announcement here: Clendenning.