History
4 soldiers killed during WWII return home for burial this week
Stars and Stripes
August 6, 2024
The remains of four U.S. Army soldiers killed in World War II have been returned home and will be buried this week with full military honors. (TNS)
The remains of four U.S. Army soldiers killed in World War II have been returned home and will be buried this week with full military honors.
•U.S. Army Sgt. Mayburn L. Hudson will be interred Wednesday at Fort Hill Memorial Park in Lynchburg, Va.
•U.S. Army Air Forces Maj. Theodore E. Willhite will be interred Wednesday at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Wash.
•U.S. Army Sgt. Sam A. Prince will be interred Thursday at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens in Clovis, N.M.
•U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Luther E. Bagley will be interred Friday at Evergreen Cemetery in Fitzgerald, Ga.
U.S. Army Sgt. Mayburn L. Hudson will be interred Aug. 7, 2024, at Fort Hill Memorial Park in Lynchburg, Va. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
Hudson
Hudson, a native of Lynchburg, was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 330th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division in the European Theater. He was killed in action Aug 7, 1944, at age 21 after his unit came under heavy fire from German forces in the vicinity of Saint-Malo, in Brittany, France.
Hudson was accounted for Dec. 14, 2023 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency after his remains were exhumed in June 2019 from U.S. Military Cemetery, St. James, France, known today as the Brittany American Cemetery, for laboratory analysis and identification.
U.S. Army Air Forces Maj. Theodore E. Willhite will be interred Aug. 7, 2024, at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Wash. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
Willhite
Willhite, a native of Muscatine, Iowa, was assigned to the 724th Bombardment Squadron, 451st Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force in the Mediterranean and European Theater of Operations. He was killed in action March 11, 1944, at age 26, after the B-24 “Liberator” he was piloting was struck by anti-aircraft fire during a bombing raid on a German position near Toulon, France.
Willhite was accounted for on Sept. 19, 2024, by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency after his remains were exhumed in 2019 from Rhone American Cemetery, Draguignan, France, for laboratory analysis and identification.
U.S. Army Sgt. Sam A. Prince will be interred Aug. 8, 2024, at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens in Clovis, N.M. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
Prince
Prince, a native of Clovis, was a member of Headquarters Battery, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment, U.S. Army, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. He was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members who were captured, subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and interned at POW camps after U.S. forces fell to the Japanese. Prince died a prisoner of war Sept. 22, 1942, at age 28.
He was accounted for on April 25, 2024, by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency after his remains were exhumed April 2019 from Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Philippines, for laboratory analysis and identification.
U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Luther E. Bagley will be interred Aug, 9, 2024, at Evergreen Cemetery in Fitzgerald, Ga. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
Bagley
Bagley, a native of Fitzgerald, was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, reinforcing the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), also known as Merrill’s Marauders. He was killed in action July 25, 1944, at age 22, during the Battle of Myitkyina, in Burma.
Bagley was accounted for on May 7, 2024, by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency after his remains were exhumed in 2021 from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, also known as the Punchbowl, for laboratory analysis and identification.