Remains of Great Falls World War II POW brought home

The federal Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced July 29 that U.S. Army Pvt. Leonard R. J. Jackson, 22, of Great Falls, Montana, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for Dec. 16, 2024.

According to a news release, Jackson’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.

Jackson was a member of Battery L of the 60th Coast Artillery Corps (CAC), when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and interned at POW camps.  Jackson was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW Camp #1. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.

According to prison camp and other historical records, Jackson died Oct. 31, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 703.

Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. 

Four sets of remains from Common Grave 703 were identified, while the remaining three were declared unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.

In 2019, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, DPAA exhumed the remains associated with Common Grave 703 and sent them to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Jackson’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Jackson’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). Today, Jackson 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 he has been accounted for.

Jackson will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date to be determined. 

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at 1-800-892-2490.

DPAA is grateful to the ABMC and the United States Army for their partnership in this mission.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.