The remains of a Central Coast airman who was captured by the Japanese in World War II and eventually died while imprisoned have been laid to rest.
On Saturday, roughly 81 years after his death, Pfc. Glenn Allen Harris of Monterey was buried at Pleyto Cemetery in Bradley, Calif., north of Camp Roberts.
A ceremony honoring his life with full military honors was held at Keuhl-Nicolay Funeral Home in Paso Robles beforehand.
"It's been 81 years and they finally identified his remains; we're actually going to give him a proper ceremony and burial," Robert Tolan said, co-founder of Welcome Home Military Heroes. "And we're going to bring in all these organizations and nonprofits to come together — including law enforcement agencies — to come together and just honor him and honor the family who've really been waiting to hear what happened to him."
A hero identified thanks to advances in science
Pfc. Harris — part of the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group — was stationed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
His unit, attacked hours after Pearl Harbor, retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, where he and many others were captured and subjected to the "Bataan Death March" — a forcible transfer of POWs in which thousands of Filipino and hundreds of American soldiers died, respectively.
The 26-year-old died on July 26, 1942, while imprisoned at Cabanatuan POW camp — likely of malaria, according to Harris' obituary.
Pfc. Harris' remains and many others were interred in a common gravesite and later recovered by the Army after the war. However, many were impossible to positively identify until recent years, thanks to advances in DNA analysis.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency led the way in identifying Pfc. Harris.
At the time of his death, he left behind four brothers, Clifford, Forrest, Wayne and Dale as well as one sister Dorothy, several nephews and his parents.
"He seemed to have always been a favorite brother and a best friend to everyone," the obituary reads.
Read more on Pfc. Glenn Allen Harris on the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency website.
