History
Remains of 4 soldiers killed during WWII return home for burial
Stars and Stripes
July 21, 2024
Members of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, also known as The Old Guard, place flags at the graves of those buried at Arlington National Cemetery for “Flags In” on Thursday May 23, 2024, to honor fallen service members for Memorial Day. (Matthew Adams/Stars and Stripes)
The remains of four soldiers who died as POWs during World War II are returning home for burial during the next week.
U.S. Army Tech Sgt. William F. Teaff of Steubenville, Ohio, will be interred Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia; U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. White S. Goings Jr. of Auburn, Neb., will be interred Friday at Glenrock Cemetery, Nemaha County, Neb.; U.S. Army Pfc. Manuel Trujillo of Santa Fe, N.M., will be interred Friday at Santa Fe National Cemetery; and U.S. Army Pvt. Cecil T. Hinson of Rock Hill, S.C., will be interred July 28 at Laurelwood Cemetery in Rock Hill.
U.S. Army Tech Sgt. William F. Teaff of Steubenville, Ohio, was a member of the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
U.S. Army Tech Sgt. William F. Teaff of Steubenville, Ohio, was a member of the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
•Teaff was a radio operator assigned to the 351st Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force. During a bombing mission March 6, 1944, the B-17 Flying Fortress, on which he was serving, was attacked by German fighters.
Teaff bailed from the aircraft before it blew up but was captured and died a prisoner of war July 10, 1944, at age 26.
He was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on April 20, 2022.
U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. White S. Goings Jr. of Auburn, Neb., was a member of the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
•Goings was a member of the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands December 1941. He was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members who were captured, held at POW camps and subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March after U.S. forces fell to the Japanese. He died a prisoner of war July 19, 1942, at age 22.
Goings was accounted for on June 27, 2023, after his remains were exhumed in 2018 from Manila American Cemetery and Memoria.
U.S. Army Pfc. Manuel Trujillo of Santa Fe, N.M., was a member of Battery C, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
•Trujillo was a member of Battery C, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. He was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members who were captured, held at at POW camps and subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March when U.S. forces fell to the Japanese. Trujillo died a prisoner of war July 26, 1942, at age 22.
He was accounted for on July 13 2023, after his remains were exhumed in 2018 from the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
U.S. Army Pvt. Cecil T. Hinson of Rock Hill, S.C., was a member of the Army Chemical Warfare Service. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
•Hinson was a member of the Army Chemical Warfare Service when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. He was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members who were captured, held at POW camps and subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March after U.S. forces fell to the Japanese. Hinson died a prisoner of war July 28, 1942, at age 20.
He was accounted for on Nov. 15, 2023, after his remains were exhumed in 2018 from the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. 1st Class Charles R. Powers, 18, of Riverside, Calif., was captured and died as a prisoner of war in the Philippines during World War II. He was accounted for May 26, 2023. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. William L. Leukering. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
Other burials
Last week, the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Charles R. Powers and U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. William L. Leukering were interred. Powers was buried Thursday at Riverside Veterans Cemetery in California, and Leukering was buried Thursday at Round Springs Cemetery in Illinois.
Powers, a native of Riverside, was a member of 28th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. He was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members captured, subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March, and interned at POW camps after U.S. forces fell to the Japanese. According to historical records, Powers died a POW July 18, 1942, at age 18.
He was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on May 26, 2023.
Leukering, a native of Metropolis, Ill., was a radio operator assigned to the 816th Bomber Squadron (Heavy), 483rd Bomber Group (Heavy), 15th Air Force base. He was killed in action in the summer of 1944 after the B-17G Flying Fortress on which he was aboard was struck by enemy anti-aircraft during a bombing raid on German air defense installations in Memmingen, Germany. Leukering was 28.