WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Warrant Officer Junior Grade William J. McMichael, 36, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, killed during World War II, was accounted for April 3, 2025.
McMichael's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In January 1945, McMichael was assigned to the Philippine Air Depot. He was held as a prisoner of war by the Empire of Japan in the Philippines from 1942 to 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. After a series of land and naval transfers, McMichael was transported to Takao, Formosa, aboard the Enoura Maru. The Japanese government reported that McMichael died on January 9, 1945, when U.S. forces sank the Enoura Maru.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel. In May 1946, AGRC Search and Recovery Team #9 exhumed a mass grave on a beach at Takao, Formosa, recovering 391 bodies, including those designated as X-572A Schofield Mausoleum #2. At the time, AGRC personnel could not identify the remains due to severe comingling, and they were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, also known as the Punchbowl.
Between October 2022 and July 2023, DPAA disinterred Unknowns from the Punchbowl linked to the Enoura Maru, including X-572A. The remains were accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory for further analysis.
To identify McMichael’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial, Y-chromosome, and autosomal DNA analysis.
McMichael’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in the Philippines, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
McMichael will be buried in Annville, Pennsylvania on a date yet to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
McMichael’s personnel profile can be viewed at: WOJG (junior grade) WILLIAM J MCMICHAEL - Service Member Profile
Read McMichael's initial ID announcement here: McMichael.