WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Bernard F. Sweet, 21, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for Aug. 14, 2025.
In the fall of 1942, Sweet was a member of Headquarters Squadron, 24th Pursuit 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. Sweet was among those reported captured when U.S. forces on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese. He was subsequently 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, Sweet died on Oct. 20, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 701.
This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Sweet'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.