Top Photo: U.S. Army Pfc. Joseph C. Murphy, 20, of Bogalusa, Louisiana. Photo: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

The remains of an American soldier who was captured by Japanese forces in the Philippines and later died as a prisoner of war have been accounted for more than 80 years after his death.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that 20-year-old US Army Private First Class Joseph C. Murphy of Bogalusa, Louisiana, was considered accounted for on April 1, 2024.

Murphy was a member of Company I, 31st Infantry Regiment when Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December 1941. After intense fighting, thousands of American servicemembers were captured following the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, and Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942. 

The DPAA said Murphy was among the forces captured in Bataan and subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March before being held at Cabanatuan Prison Camp No. 1. More than 2,500 POWs died at the camp during the war.

Cabanatuan camp and other records indicate that Murphy died on October 28, 1942, and was buried along with other prisoners at the camp cemetery in Common Grave 713.

After the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) exhumed remains buried at the cemetery and relocated them to a temporary US military mausoleum near Manila. 

In 1947, the AGRS attempted to identify some of the remains. Two sets of remains were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable and reburied at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as unknowns. The American Battle Monuments Commission has maintained the grave for the past 70 years.

In 2019, the DPAA exhumed the remains associated with Common Grave 713 as part of the Cabanatuan Project and sent them to a laboratory for analysis. There, scientists used dental and anthropological analysis as well as circumstantial evidence to identify Murphy’s remains. The Armed Forces Medical Examiner system also used mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Murphy is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate that he has been accounted for.

Murphy will be buried in Bogalusa, Louisiana, on August 3, 2024. 

The National World War II Museum is honored to support the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s (DPAA) mission to offer “the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation.” The Museum participates as a host institution for DPAA Research Partner Fellows who support the mission by contributing research on missing World War II personnel.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website.