WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Lt. Col. Louis E. Roemer, 43, killed during World War II, was accounted for July 28, 2025.
In early 1942, Roemer was assigned to Chemical Warfare Service, U.S. Army Forces in the Far East on the Bataan Peninsula, in the Philippines. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Empire of Japan in the Philippines until 1945 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. Roemer was then transported to Takao, Formosa, known today as Taiwan, aboard the Enoura Maru. The Japanese reported that, after U.S. forces attacked and sank the Enoura Maru, Roemer was placed aboard the Brazil Maru, bound for Moji, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. On Jan. 22, 1945, during the last stage of transport, Roemer reportedly died of acute colitis.
This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Roemer'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.