The Remains Of A 20-Year-Old World War II Soldier Who Died As A Prisoner Of A Philippines War Camp Were Identified Earlier This Year
On April 1, 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that they had identified the remains of a 20-year-old World War II soldier named Joseph C. Murphy, who died as a prisoner of a war camp in the Philippines.
Murphy was from Bogalusa, Louisiana. Before joining the U.S. Army, he had been working for an ice cream company.
In late 1942, he was serving as a private first class in the 31st Infantry Regiment in the Philippines when Japanese troops invaded the Bataan Peninsula.
After lots of intense fighting, American forces surrendered. As a result, thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and brought to POW camps.
When U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese, it was reported that Murphy was among the prisoners.
They were subjected to the brutal 65-mile-long Bataan Death March across the Philippines and ended up at the infamous Cabanatuan POW camp #1 in the Nueva Ecija Province. During the war, more than 2,500 prisoners of war (POWs) perished in this camp.
At Cabanatuan, the prisoners, including Murphy, had to undergo poor conditions. There was not enough food or water, which led to starvation, malnutrition, and disease. When the camp was finally liberated in 1945, it was estimated that over 2,500 Americans had died.
According to historical records, Murphy died from malnutrition and dysentery just months after arriving at the camp. He was buried in Common Grave 713 in the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery with other deceased individuals.
Murphy died on October 28, 1942. His family received a letter from U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, notifying them of his death.
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“My deepest sympathy goes out to you in the death of your son, Pfc. Joseph C. Murphy, while a prisoner of war of the enemy,” General MacArthur wrote in the letter.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service relocated the remains from the Cabanatuan cemetery to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila.
The remains were examined in 1947. Only two sets of remains were able to be identified. The rest could not be determined who they belonged to. They were buried as unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
For decades, Murphy’s remains went unidentified. Then, in 2019, researchers exhumed the remains and sent them to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory for testing.
The remains were severely decomposed, but dental records, mitochondrial DNA analysis, and circumstantial evidence helped the scientists identify Murphy’s remains in April 2024.
Although Murphy was interred as an unknown, his grave was cared for by the American Battle Monuments Commission for over 70 years.
Today, his memory is preserved on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. Next to his name, a rosette will be placed to indicate that he has been accounted for.
Murphy’s remains will arrive back at his home in Bogalusa, Louisiana, where they will be buried properly on August 3, 2024.
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