The remains of US Army Private William Calkins aged 20, who was missing in action during World War II, have been identified and will be returned to Oregon for burial, CBS News reports, citing the Department of Defense.
The department’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, tasked with recovering prisoners of war and service members missing in action, said Calkins was captured after US troops in Bataan province surrendered to Japanese forces. After surviving the harrowing 65-mile Bataan Death March, he was held at Cabanatuan POW Camp#1, where records show he died on November 1, 1942, at the age of 20.
In a news release, the agency included multiple Oregon newspaper clippings from the war, including one that reads: “Word has been received in Salem that Pvt. William E. Calkins, formerly employed by the Perfection Bowling alleys, is a prisoner of war.”
Calkins was buried with other prisoners in what was known as Common Grave 704.
After the war, his remains were exhumed from the camp and relocated to the Philippine capital, where they were buried as “unknowns” at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, the agency said. They remained unidentified until this year.
In 2018, in an effort to identify the unknown remains associated with Common Grave 704, the agency exhumed them once again and sent them to a laboratory. There, scientists used DNA analysis and other techniques to identify Calkins’ remains.
A rosette will be placed next to his name on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery to indicate he has been accounted for, the agency said.
Calkins’ remains are set to return to Oregon for burial in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro in September.
Private Calkins was a prisoner of war at Cabanatuan POW Camp#1 in the Philippines, where prisoners endured brutal conditions, according to the DPAA. The lack of food and medicine led to high death rates among the captives.
