FILE - A man and woman walks past rows of crosses after a ceremony to mark U.S. Veterans Day at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in metropolitan Manila, Philippines on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. Remains of World War II veteran U.S. Army Pvt. William E. Calkins, from Oregon's Washington County, were recently identified from those of unknown soldiers buried at the cemetery.
Aaron Favila / AP
Not much was known about U.S. Army Pvt. William E. Calkins, except that he survived the infamous Bataan Death March and died shortly afterwards in a prison camp.
But now the Department of Defense’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which recovers prisoners of war and people missing in action, has identified his remains from those of unknown soldiers buried at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Now his full story can be told. Calkins was from Washington County and he was 20 years of age when he found himself serving in the 31st Infantry Regiment in the Philippines.
In December 1941 he was in Bataan when Japanese forces invaded the islands and captured thousands of U.S. and Filipino troops, according to a Defense POW/MIA (Prisoner of War/Missing in Action) briefing. Calkins and an estimated 75,000 other soldiers were gathered together and forced to march 65 miles to various prison camps. It came to be known as the Bataan Death March and was characterized by severe physical abuse. Men who fell down or were caught on the ground were shot.
After the war, Japanese commanders were tried by the U.S. Military Commission for failing to prevent subordinates from committing atrocities.
Prison camp records show Calkins survived the march to reach Cabanatuan POW Camp #1, but died a few months later and was buried in a common grave numbered 704.
A Feb. 6, 1944 news clipping from the Statesman Journal newspaper references the death of Oregonian William E. Calkins.
Courtesy Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency via Salem Statesman Journal
After the war, his remains and those of others in mass graves were exhumed. While some could be identified, others were reinterred as unknown soldiers at the Manila American Cemetery.
In 2018, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, the military again exhumed remains associated with common grave 704 and sent them for analysis. Scientists at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System were able to use DNA to identify Calkins.
He will be buried in Hillsboro with military honors on Sept. 13.