WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. Elmer F. Blonien, 27, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for Jan. 5, 2026.
In late 1941, Blonien was a member of Company A, 192nd Tank Battalion, 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. Blonien was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then 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, Blonien died Nov. 15, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 721.
This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Blonien’s case will be published once his family receives a full briefing.
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 Blonien’s initial ID announcement here: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XfECEA0.