Loesche, Karl R.
Army Private

Karl R. Loesche from New Jersey, Salem county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Monday, November 16, 1942
Death details: On September 13, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Karl R. Loesche, missing from World War II. Staff Sergeant Loesche, who joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from New Jersey, served in the 3rd Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group. He was captured on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and was taken prisoner by Japanese forces. He was eventually taken to the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province, where he died of dysentery on November 16, 1942. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, he could not be individually identified among the remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. In 2016, advances in forensic techniques prompted the reexamination and subsequent identification of SSG Loesche’s remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency