After more than 80 years, the remains of a soldier killed overseas during World War II have returned home for burial at Riverside National Cemetery. Christian Cázares reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
A Southern California native who died during World War II as a prisoner of war was laid to rest in an official burial service Thursday -- more than eight decades after his death.
U.S. Army Air Corps Pvt. Charles Powers from Riverside was only 26 years old when he was captured by Japanese forces in the Philippines in late 1941. After enduring harsh conditions during his captivity, he became one of the 2,500 POWs who perished in July 1942.
The Army exhumed his body as well as the remains of other deceased soldiers after the war, but Powers’ identity wasn’t confirmed until January 2018 when a DNA analysis was conducted.
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For decades, his family said they never lost hope in finding him.
"So many years have passed. Some of the sites turned back into jungle or they turned into farmland," Charles E. Powers, the fallen soldier's nephew said. "[It's] crazy … I mean, the reality is there was only three bones recovered. It's not like they recovered a full skeleton or something."
Power’s final resting place is Riverside National Cemetery.
