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A Central New York soldier, Private Harland J. Hennessey, has been identified after more than 80 years. Captured during World War II, Hennessey was a member of the 803rd Engineer Battalion, Aviation, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December 1941. He was among the U.S. and Filipino soldiers captured after the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and was held at the Cabanatuan POW Camp, where he died on November 1, 1942.
Hennessey's remains were initially buried in a common grave at the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery. After the war, the American Graves Registration Service exhumed the remains and transferred them to a temporary mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, efforts to identify the remains were unsuccessful, and they were interred as Unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
In 2018, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) exhumed the remains for further analysis. Using dental and anthropological analysis, along with mitochondrial DNA technology, scientists successfully identified Hennessey's remains. According to the DPAA, a rosette will be placed next to his name on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery to indicate he has been accounted for.
Hennessey's family was recently briefed on his identification, and he will be buried in Boonville in July 2025. For more information, the Army Casualty Office can be contacted at (800) 892-2490.