WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Chester A. Johnson Jr., 20, of Houston, Texas, killed during World War II, was accounted for on July 9, 2025.
Johnson's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the spring of 1945, Johnson served as a radio operator aboard a Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" bomber assigned to 878th Bombardment Squadron, 499th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy). On April 14, during a combat mission to Tokyo, Japan, the aircraft was shot down over Chiba Prefecture. Johnson survived the crash but was held as a prisoner of war. He perished in the Tokyo Military Prison during a fire on May 26, 1945.
Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Service was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in the Pacific Theater. Although the AGRS recovered 65 sets of remains from the Tokyo Military Prison, they were unable to identify any as Johsnon. At the end of AGRS identification efforts, U.S. forces interred 39 Unknowns associated with the Tokyo Military Prison in Fort McKinley Cemetery, now the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Republic of the Philippines.
In March and April 2022, DPAA exhumed the 39 Unknowns associated with the Tokyo Prison Fire for comparison to associated casualties, including Johnson, and accessioned them into the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Johnson’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 and Y-chromosome DNA analysis.
Johnson’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Honolulu, along with the others missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Johnson will be buried in his hometown on a date yet to be determined.
For family and funeral information, call the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
For additional information on the War 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.
Read Johnson's initial ID announcement here: Johnson.