WASHINGTON –
WASHINGTON—The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Norman R. Thomas, 20, of Clanton, Alabama, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 29, 2025.
Thomas's family recently received their full briefing on is identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In late 1941, Thomas was a member of 48th Material Squadron, 5th Air Base Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and interned at POW camps. Thomas was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical records, Thomas died on July 19, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 312.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and recovered 37 sets of remains from Common Grave 312. 12 individual graveside identifications were made with the use of identification tags, leaving 25 unidentified, including Thomas. He was declared non recoverable on Oct. 5, 1949, and buried as an Unknown at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM).
In August 2014, the remains associated with Common Grave 312 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Thomas's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis and mitochondrial genome sequencing data.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Thomas's grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Thomas will be buried in Verbena, Alabama, in July 2025.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
DPAA is grateful to the ABMC and the United States Army for their partnership in this mission.
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.