A U.S. Army Private who died as a World War II prisoner of war (POW) in 1942 and was buried as an Unknown Soldier has finally been accounted for, authorities announced Thursday.
U.S. Army Pvt. Robert L. A. Hurst, 21, of Wabasso, Florida, was identified July 10 using dental and anthropological analyses, circumstantial evidence as well as mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA analyses, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said in a statement Thursday.
Hurst, a member of the 429th Signal Maintenance Company, was captured alongside thousands of American and Filipino service members by the Japanese in 1942 following fierce fighting and the surrender of the Bataan peninsula April 9, followed by Corregidor Island on May 6, according to DPAA. He survived the 65-mile Bataan Death March after his capture but was among the 2,500 POWs who died while being held at the Cabanatuan POW…
