Forensic Genealogy Services LLC

After the Filipino and American surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on 8 April 1942, there were an estimated 65,000 Filipino and 10,000 Americans that were transported to various prison camps. Many of the POWs were forced to walk approximately 100 kilometers across the Bataan Peninsula (the Bataan “Death March”) to POW camps located throughout the Philippines. Many POWs eventually were relocated to Cabanatuan Prison Camp. More American POWs were sent to Cabanatuan after the surrender of Corregidor Island on 6 May 1942. Cabanatuan Prison Camp was occupied from June 1942 until the end of World War II in September 1945. Approximately 2,763 Americans died as POWs at Cabanatuan Prison Camp during its operation.

Immediately following the end of WWII, efforts to identify the individuals from Cabanatuan began by disinterring the remains from the Cabanatuan Prison Camp Cemetery, and compiling a burial roster based on records kept by the American POWs of deaths and burial locations at the camp. Nearly 2/3rds, or approximately 1500 individuals, were identified between 1946 and 1950. The remaining approximately 1000 individuals were eventually buried as Unknowns in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Republic of the Philippines.

The Cabanatuan Project’s scope of work is the disinterment and identification of these approximately 1000 Americans who died at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp during WWII and are currently Unresolved and buried as Unknowns.

More coming home.

Today my husband and I had the honor and privilege of touring the Defense POW/MIA DNA Lab at the Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. This is where remains of my USS Oklahoma cases were brought for identification. Brought me to tears to see remains in tables waiting to be named.

Navy Water Tender 2nd Class Clarence M. Lockwood, 21, Smithton, Arkansas, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in December 1941, was interred at Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C., Feb. 11, 2019. Lockwood, who was one of 429 servicemen killed during the attack, was identified on July 3, 2018. (DoD photos by Chuck Prichard)

Bert McKeeman comes home:

Council Bluffs man who died at Pearl Harbor will be buried Saturday after Offutt lab ID'd him through DNA Almost 77 years after his death, a Council Bluffs sailor killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor will be remembered in a memorial service and laid to rest in his

DPAA has announced these identifications for the USS Oklahoma in the last month. Bringing the total to 170 Navy and 4 Marines.

Claude O. Gowey
Gerald L. Clayton
Frances E. Dick
James T. Cheshire
Herbert J. Poindexter
Creighton H. Workman
John A. Austin
Charles C . Gomez Jr.
Merle Smith
David Edmonston
Millard Burk
Robert Headington

Navy Fireman 1st Class Albert U. Kane, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on Aug. 9, 2018.
http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1613195/uss-oklahoma-sailor-killed-during-world-war-ii-accounted-for-kane-a/

USS Oklahoma Sailor Killed During World War II Accounted For (Kane, A. Navy Fireman 1st Class Albert U. Kane, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on Aug. 9, 2018.On Dec. 7, 1941, Kane was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was

From DPAA - Navy Fireman 1st Class Bert E. McKeeman, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on Aug. 13, 2018.
http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1613199/uss-oklahoma-sailor-killed-during-world-war-ii-accounted-for-mckeeman-b/

Navy Machinist's Mate 2nd Class Archie T. Miles, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on July 26, 2018.
http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1613202/uss-oklahoma-sailor-killed-during-world-war-ii-accounted-for-miles-a/