Williamston TWP. – Family members and others gathered on Saturday 3 May to the remains of a Webberville man who survived the notorious Bataan Death March during the Second World War, to intervene, only to die months later in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
US Army Air Corps SGT. The remains of James Swartz were identified 80 years after the war, in August 2024, and returned to Michigan for funeral in Williamston Township.
The Accounting Agency Defense Pow/Mia announced the identification of Swartz in November 2024.
Swartz was laid to rest on Summit Cemetery, with around 40 people representing five generations of his family, according to Lori Byrnes.
The service includes an honorary guard.
How Swartz was buried in the Philippines
Swartz was a member of the 17th Pursuit Squadron, 24th pursuit group, when Japanese troops invaded the Filipino islands during the Second World War.
The unit, activated in the Philippines on October 1, 1941, with two attached squadrons equipped with P-35 and P-40 aircraft. At the end of December, the ground staff was absorbed by infantry units and some pilots were evacuated to Australia. The remaining pilots remained operations in the Philippines with the few aircraft that remain, according to the Army Air Corps Museum.
Intense fighting led to the surrender of allied troops of the Bataan -Piersland on April 9, 1942, and Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942, said the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
He was reported caught when the American troops in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese.
The prisoner service members were subjected to the 65-Mile Bataan Death March and then held in the Cabanatuan Pow Camp No. 1, where more than 2500 prisoners of war died during the war, the accounting agency said.
When did Swartz died?
According to the prison camp and other data, Swartz died on September 23, 1942 and was buried in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 434. He was 21.
“Although buried as a stranger in (Manilla American Cemetery and Memorial), Swartz's grave has been carefully provided by the American Battle Monuments Committee for the past 70 years,” said the accounting agency in a press release. “Today Sgt. Swartz is commemorated on the walls of the missing on the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate that he is responsible.”
How were Swartz's remains identified?
In April 2019, as part of the Cabanatuan project, DPAA associated the remains associated with common serious 434 and sent to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.
“Systematically working by the archives of strangers who were originally buried in more than 300 common graves, the DisinterenGende groups project proposes unknowns on the basis of the evidence of their original common serious associations. Due to extensive commingling, the Ministry of Defense collects DNA -Families from the Kampezeemensters for more than 2,700 -bags, locked bags, locked bags, locked bags, locked bags, and the Kampezoe -bags, and more than 2,700 bags. Accounting agency.
Scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as indirect evidence, to identify Swartz's remains. The armed forced medical research system also used analysis of mitochondrial DNA (MTDNA).
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: James Swartz died in the Philippines during the Second World War. Now he rests on Summit Cemetery
