Benak, Frank V.
Army Corporal

Frank V. Benak, age 24, from Mason County Michigan.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Thursday, December 13, 1945
Death details: On February 2, 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Frank Vincent Benak, missing from World War II. Corporal Benak entered the U.S. Army in Michigan and served in Cannon Company, 128th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division. In late 1942, the division was engaged with Japanese forces around Buna, Papua New Guinea. American and Australian troops encountered harsh terrain and well concealed and entrenched defenders in their struggle to liberate this area from enemy control. On December 5, Cpl Benak and another soldier were on a combat patrol near Buna Creek when they encountered enemy forces and came under fire. The other soldier was wounded and managed to return to friendly lines, but Cpl Benak was never seen again. On December 14, 1942, unidentified remains of an American soldier were buried at the Buna Village Cemetery. These remains were eventually transferred to the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. In May 2012, Australian Defense Force personnel looking for unresolved casualties near Buna observed an identification tag that belonged to Cpl Benak in the possession of a village leader. This discovery led to the disinterment of the unidentified remains from the Manila American Cemetery for further study. Laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established that the remains were those of Cpl Benak.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Manila American

Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW MIA Accounting Agency, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Appleton Post Crescent