WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Bernard F. Sweet, 21, of Bennington, Vermont, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for Aug. 14, 2025.
Sweet’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
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.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and recovered seven sets of remains from Common Grave 701. Five of the sets were identified based on the presence of identification media or laboratory analysis, leaving two unidentified that were buried as Unknowns in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
In December 2020, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, the remains associated with Common Grave 701 were disinterred from the MACM and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Sweet’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological, and isotope analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis, mitochondrial genome sequencing data and nuclear single nucleotide polymorphism testing.
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Sweet’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Sweet will be buried on Aug. 8, 2026, in his hometown.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
DPAA is grateful to the ABMC and the United States Army for their partnership in this mission.
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.
Sweet’s personnel profile can be viewed at: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000MmoD0EAJ.
Sweet’s initial ID announcement can be viewed at: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4303677/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-sweet-b/.