Ross H. Thompson, age 50, from Tennessee, Blount county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Thursday, December 10, 1942
Death details: On November 10, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Technical Sergeant Ross H. Thompson, missing from the World War II. Technical Sergeant Thompson entered the U.S. Army from Tennessee and was a member of the Finance Department stationed at Fort McKinley in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured by Japanese forces following the U.S. surrender at Bataan on April 9, 1942. TSgt Thompson was taken to the Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp, where he died of pellagra and beriberi on December 10, 1942. TSgt Thompson was buried in Common Grave 917 at the camp cemetery. His remains could not be individually identified when they were recovered from Communal Grave 917 after the war, and they were buried as unknown remains at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. In March of 2018, the unknown remains associated with Communal Grave 917 were disinterred from the Manila American Cemetery and accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory for reexamination. Laboratory analysis led to the successful identification of TSgt Thompson’s remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency