WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. Henry J. Smith, 27, of Fulton, New York, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for June 5, 2025.
Smith’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In late 1942, Smith was a member of the Battery F, 59th Coast Artillery Regiment, 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. Smith 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, Smith died Nov. 1, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 704.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed 10 sets of remains buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery. However, the remains were unable to be identified at the time and were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.
In December 2018, as part of DPAA’s Cabanatuan Project, the remains associated with Common Grave 704 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Smith’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological, and isotope analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA analysis, as well as mitochondrial genome sequencing data.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Smith’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
Smith will be buried in Holly, Michigan in 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.