WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Cpl. Floyd A. Dunning, 32, of Waverly, Virginia, killed during World War II, was accounted for Feb. 18, 2025.
Dunning's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In April 1942, Dunning was assigned to the Medical Department on the Bataan Peninsula, in the Philippines. 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. Dunning was then transported to Takao, Formosa, known today as Taiwan, aboard the Enoura Maru. After U.S. forces sank the Enoura Maru in January 1945, the Japanese military reported that Dunning was placed aboard the transport ship Brazil Maru, bound for Moji, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. During the transport, Japanese authorities reported that Dunning died of “wounds received in action” on 15 January 1945.
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 311 bodies, including those designated as designated X-567 Schofield Mausoleum #2 and X-581 Schofield Mausoleum #2. Following unsuccessful attempts to identify the remains, they were declared unidentifiable on Feb. 15, 1949, and March 11, 1949. and they were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), Honolulu.
Between October 2022 and July 2023, DPAA disinterred Unknowns from the NMCP linked to the Enoura Maru, including X-567 and X-581. The remains were accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory for further analysis.
To identify Dunning’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial, Y chromosome, and autosomal DNA analysis.
Dunning’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial 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.
Dunning will be buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific 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 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.
Dunning’s personnel profile can be viewed at: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001BwEopEAF.
Read Dunning's initial ID announcement here: Dunning.