Posted on Apr 24, 2018
Where do I find someone KIA and buried on foreign soil?
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I'm doing research for somebody who has a cousin who was killed in action in the Philippines in 1945. This woman has no legitimate information on where he was buried. Her cousin side added his name to the parent's tombstone, but there is no proof he is actually buried there. Information online is very sketchy and I haven't found anything that is useful.
I first suggested for her to contact the cemetery in Kansas where he is buried. It's a small town and after seeing the photos of the cemetery online it looks to be a small cemetery. She says it is still active, but they have no website. I also told her she should try to get his military records, but warned they may not exist because of the 1973 fire.
Any ideas of where I might look for information on burials of those killed on foreign soil? I did find some information that the military did not pay for transporting remains back to the U. S. and many were buried in other countries with no marking on the grave. I'm assuming it could be a mass burial.
I first suggested for her to contact the cemetery in Kansas where he is buried. It's a small town and after seeing the photos of the cemetery online it looks to be a small cemetery. She says it is still active, but they have no website. I also told her she should try to get his military records, but warned they may not exist because of the 1973 fire.
Any ideas of where I might look for information on burials of those killed on foreign soil? I did find some information that the military did not pay for transporting remains back to the U. S. and many were buried in other countries with no marking on the grave. I'm assuming it could be a mass burial.
Posted 6 y ago
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It would probably depend on when and where they were killed. If they were killed during the invasion to retake the islands, there should be some record somewhere. If they were a guerilla holdout after the fall in 42, then it will be very difficult if not impossible to determine that. If they were a POW, probably the same problems would crop up.
The others have already suggested the organizations I would go to. I would add, in addition, try and find a unit roster and search out any survivors. I know that is a shot in the dark, but it might be the only option if any of them are still alive.
The others have already suggested the organizations I would go to. I would add, in addition, try and find a unit roster and search out any survivors. I know that is a shot in the dark, but it might be the only option if any of them are still alive.
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I don't have any information on troop movement for him especially since he was in an aircraft that crashed. I wasn't given a lot of information on this.
I've also been researching an ancestor of mine who was in the Marines and killed at Iwo Jima in 1945. The poor kid enlisted while he was still in high school. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. There is a lot more information on troop movement in daily diaries for his unit including a lot of photos from that period. Nothing much for this crash victim.
This woman told me "Going on to the island of Leyte he was assigned to duty on Luzon with the 32nd Infantry Division." I'll do some searches for the 32nd. Thanks again.
I've also been researching an ancestor of mine who was in the Marines and killed at Iwo Jima in 1945. The poor kid enlisted while he was still in high school. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. There is a lot more information on troop movement in daily diaries for his unit including a lot of photos from that period. Nothing much for this crash victim.
This woman told me "Going on to the island of Leyte he was assigned to duty on Luzon with the 32nd Infantry Division." I'll do some searches for the 32nd. Thanks again.
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Another place to try is the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. http://www.dpaa.mil
They track every service member since World War II has not been accounted for. You would then at least have his last Unit and the area he went missing in.
They track every service member since World War II has not been accounted for. You would then at least have his last Unit and the area he went missing in.
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
Official U.S. Government website for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Our mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation.
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I didn't find that one. I thought of the possibility of him being a POW if he survived the crash then died. I don't know what his mission in the Philippines was. This woman I'm doing the research for doesn't seem to know much about it, and the information she sent me is mostly from the local newspaper there in some town I never heard of. I even checked Ancestry.com records only they had the same thing that I found on government websites. I may check again because sometimes there are military burial cards that show where they were buried only I think they are only for stateside not overseas.
Thanks for the information. I'll check it now.
Thanks for the information. I'll check it now.
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I just checked their Not Found lists for Kansas (where he's from) and California (where he was last stationed at Camp Ord. Nothing for those.
In the Recently Accounted For lists they only have listings from 2007 to Current. I didn't find him in any of them and I don't know if they had lists prior to 2007 unless they incorporated prior years into 2007. I sent my information to this woman and asked her more questions like if she had contact with anyone from this guy's family. I know the parents are dead, but there could be a sibling or someone else who might still be alive. It's too bad this woman waited so long to research this. I would have done it years ago when people were still alive.
Sometimes Ancestry.com has burial records for military personnel. I'm going to check that again. Fold3 isn't much use and I already tried that.
I still thank you for your help. I think I'm about to hit a dead end with this. There's not much I can do if the information isn't available.
In the Recently Accounted For lists they only have listings from 2007 to Current. I didn't find him in any of them and I don't know if they had lists prior to 2007 unless they incorporated prior years into 2007. I sent my information to this woman and asked her more questions like if she had contact with anyone from this guy's family. I know the parents are dead, but there could be a sibling or someone else who might still be alive. It's too bad this woman waited so long to research this. I would have done it years ago when people were still alive.
Sometimes Ancestry.com has burial records for military personnel. I'm going to check that again. Fold3 isn't much use and I already tried that.
I still thank you for your help. I think I'm about to hit a dead end with this. There's not much I can do if the information isn't available.
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The NCA is doing some research and including some of their historians. I should have gone to them first, but I didn't know they had a Facebook page.
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You can try the Clark Veterans Cemetery in the Philippines. It opened in 1947. Headstones, markers and remains were moved from four other military cemeteries in country and consolidated at Clark. Since your friends cousin was KIA in the Philippines, it's possible he may be buried there.
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2173031/clark-veterans-cemetery
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2173031/clark-veterans-cemetery
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Thanks. I tried the Clark Veterans Cemetery website and there is no place to search for names. Find A Grave already has him in a memorial that is managed by the woman who I am doing the research for. His name is on the back of his parent's headstone as a sort of cenotaph with no body buried there. At least that is what she told me. She can't get an answer at the cemetery. Find A Grave only has her memorial. BillionGraves, another genealogy cemetery site, also has nothing for this person.
I think this veteran's cremains were sent to the family and they could have buried or scattered him in their garden. Since all of them are dead she has nobody to ask what happened. I'm still waiting to hear back from the National Cemetery Association, but they said it will be a few days. I'm in no hurry since I'm hitting roadblocks. I think there is just no information available especially if the family received the remains and did something with them. I know people who buried their family member's remains in a backyard or secretly placed a box of cremains in the casket of another person and there's no record of it. I believe this is what happened.
By the way, there is a document on Ancestry that has numbers on it. The first column is supposed to be where he was buried and the last column is supposed to be the disposition of the body. The first number is 7300. The last number is 1. There are other numbers before the last number, but Ancestry does not give a full accounting of the information on this form. I checked the beginning and end of the document to see if there was a code list to determine what these numbers mean and there wasn't one. Ancestry probably omitted it. I may have better luck with an Army website if it is available. These records on Ancestry originally came from an Army collection.
Thank you for going to the trouble.
I think this veteran's cremains were sent to the family and they could have buried or scattered him in their garden. Since all of them are dead she has nobody to ask what happened. I'm still waiting to hear back from the National Cemetery Association, but they said it will be a few days. I'm in no hurry since I'm hitting roadblocks. I think there is just no information available especially if the family received the remains and did something with them. I know people who buried their family member's remains in a backyard or secretly placed a box of cremains in the casket of another person and there's no record of it. I believe this is what happened.
By the way, there is a document on Ancestry that has numbers on it. The first column is supposed to be where he was buried and the last column is supposed to be the disposition of the body. The first number is 7300. The last number is 1. There are other numbers before the last number, but Ancestry does not give a full accounting of the information on this form. I checked the beginning and end of the document to see if there was a code list to determine what these numbers mean and there wasn't one. Ancestry probably omitted it. I may have better luck with an Army website if it is available. These records on Ancestry originally came from an Army collection.
Thank you for going to the trouble.
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I just found this article. No wonder there isn't anything on Find A Grave or BillionGraves: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/06/abandoned-cemetery-angers-vets/1750645/
'Abandoned' Philippines cemetery rankles military vets
When he walks through the dilapidated Clark Veterans Cemetery in the Philippines, Dennis Wright says he feels one overriding emotion: anger.
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