Bataan Death Parade, the prisoner-of-war camp claimed to be Williamstonian. His body finally rests in the United States
Williamston TWP. – Family members and others gathered on Saturday, May 3 in the remains of a Webberville man who survived the infamous Bataan death march during World War II but died a few months later in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.
Sgt., U.S. Army Airline. James Swartz’s body was determined to be 80 years after the August 2024 war and returned to Michigan for funerals in Williamston Township.
The Defense Forces/MIA accounting agency announced Swartz’s proof of identity in November 2024.
According to Lori Byrnes, Swartz was placed in Summit Cemetery with about 40 people representing his family.
The service includes a meter.
How Sweetz was eventually buried in the Philippines
Swartz was a member of the 17th Chase Squadron when Japanese troops invaded the Philippine Islands during World War II.
The unit was activated in the Philippines on October 1, 1941, and was equipped with two squadrons equipped with P-35 and P-40 aircraft. By late December, ground personnel were absorbed by infantry units and some pilots were evacuated to Australia. The remaining pilots continued to operate in the Philippines, with the remaining few aircraft remaining, according to the Army Airline Museum.
US Army Air Force Sergeant. James W. Swartz died in prisoners of war during World War II and will be buried in the town of Williamstown in April 2025.
The defence Pow/MIA accounting agency said the fierce fighting led to the Allies surrendering to the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942 and the island of Corregido on May 6, 1942.
He was reportedly arrested when U.S. troops in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
The captured service personnel were subjected to a 65-mile Bataan death march, then held at the Cabanatuan Pow Camp No. 1, where more than 2,500 prisoners of war were killed during the war, the accounting agency said.
When did Swartz die?
According to prison camps and other records, Swatts died on September 23, 1942 and was buried in the local Cabanatuan Camp cemetery with ordinary graves. He is 21 years old.
“Although it is an unknown person to be buried in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Swartz’s grave has been meticulously cared for by the American Combat Monument Commission for the past 70 years,” the accounting agency said in a press release. “Today, Sergeant Swartz is memorialized on the missing walls of the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.
How to determine Swartz’s body
In April 2019, as part of the Cabanatuan project, the DPAA excavated remains associated with the Ordinary Grave 434 and sent them to the DPAA lab for analysis.
“Systematically working through the records of Unknowns that had originally been buried in over 300 common graves, the project proposals disinterring groups of Unknowns based on the evidence surrounding their original common grave associations. Because of excessive commingling, the Department of Defense is collecting DNA Family Reference Samples for over 2,700 casualties from the camp, both resolved and unresolved,” the accounting agency said.
Scientists use dental and anthropological analysis and indirect evidence to identify Swartz’s remains. The armed medical examiner system also uses mitochondrial DNA (MTDNA) analysis.
This article was originally published in Lansing Magazine: James Swartz died in the Philippines during World War II. Now he’s resting
