82 years later, remains of WWII prisoner from Colorado return home

DENVER (KDVR) — He survived the Bataan Death March, only to die in a Japanese prison camp. Now, 82 years later, a Colorado World War II hero is finally back home.

The remains of Clifford Strickland of Florence, Colorado, arrived at Denver International Airport on Thursday, escorted by his great nephew, Air Force Capt. Daniel Strickland.

“When I was asked to do it, my first feeling was unworthy. That’s my honest feeling. But honored. Honored to be asked to do it and to have the opportunity to escort him home. A soldier of that generation who happens to be in my bloodline,” Strickland said.

Clifford Strickland was in the Army in the Philippines in 1942 when Japanese forces invaded. He was taken prisoner and subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March. He survived it, but then he died while in captivity at a Japanese POW camp. Strickland was buried in a mass grave and eventually moved to an American cemetery in Manila, where he was interred as “unknown.”

But the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the military office charged with identifying the remains of service members, used dental and other analyses, including mitochondrial DNA supplied by relatives, to make a positive match.

“With modern DNA technology, they’re able to do that to a much better degree than they have ever done before,” said Steve Hayes of Post 209 of the American Legion in Colorado Springs, one of dozens of motorcyclists who escorted the hearse carrying Strickland’s remains through Denver and then to southern Colorado on Thursday.

Strickland will be laid to rest Saturday in Florence with full military honors.

“I hope this story brings (families of missing service members) some faith that your loved ones will return home,” Daniel Strickland said.

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