WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Joseph L. Burke, 30, killed during World War II, was accounted for June 10, 2025.
In January 1945, Burke was assigned to Battery F, 60th Coast Artillery Regiment, on the Bataan Peninsula, in the Philippines. He was held as a prisoner of war by the Empire of Japan in the Philippines until 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. Burke was then transported to Takao, Formosa, known today as Taiwan, aboard the Enoura Maru. The Japanese reported that Burke died on Jan. 9 when U.S. forces attacked and sank the Enoura Maru.
This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Burke'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 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.