Louisiana World War II soldier to be laid to rest 82 years later

BOGALUSA, La. ( WGNO ) — A Louisiana soldier, who served in World War II but died as a Prisoner of War, has been accounted for 82 years later.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, 20-year-old Bogalusa resident and U.S. Army Private First Class Joseph C. Murphy was a member of Company I, 31st Infantry Regiment in late 1942.

As Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands that December, “intense” fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.

During the battle, Murphy and thousands of other United States and Filipino service members were captured and held as Prisoners of War at camps like the 65-mile Bataan Death Murphy and the Cabanatuan POW Camp #1.

DOD leaders report that over 2,500 POWs died at the camps during the war. According to the historic camp records, Murphy’s death was recorded on Oct. 28, 1942, and was buried with other prisoners at Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 713.

Years following the war, American Graves Registration Service personnel exhumed the bodies and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila.

AGRS officials began efforts to identify the remains, of which two sets were identified but the rest were deemed unidentifiable and buried at the Manila American Cemetary and Memorial as “Unknowns,” according to the DOD.

During the Cabanatuan Project in April 2019, scientists with DPAA exhumed the remains of Common Grave 713 and used dental records, anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence to identify Murphy.

The Armed Forces Medical Examiner also used mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Currently, Murphy is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing in MACM. A rosette will be placed by his name to indicate he has been accounted for, according to DOD officials.

Murphy will be buried in Bogalusa on Aug. 3.

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