Joseph C. Murphy may have died on October 28, 1942, but the 20-year-old U.S. Army Private First Class from Louisiana was not laid to rest until Saturday, August 3, 2024, in his hometown of Bogalusa. Murphy became a prisoner of war on April 9, 1942, with the surrender of the Bataan peninsula, while serving in the 31st Infantry Regiment. At the time, he had already survived months of intense fighting against Japanese forces which had invaded the Philippines. Murphy then endured the two-week long, 65-mile Bataan Death March, that claimed the lives of perhaps as many as 500 Americans and 2,500 Filipino Soldiers.
Six months later, Murphy would become one of the 1,500 Americans to die in captivity from starvation and disease. In Murphy’s case, he succumbed to dysentery.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), based on Cabanatuan POW Camp #1, and historical records, Murphy was buried along with other deceased prisoners at the camp cemetery in Common Grave 713. For the next 70 years the unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as unknowns. In April 2019, DPAA exhumed the remains for Analysis.
Mitochondrial DNA analysis, dental and anthropological analysis and other techniques help the DPAA identify remains, which the agency accomplished with Murphy on April 1, 2024. Speaking on Friday, August 2, Louisiana Secretary of Veterans Affairs Col. Charleton Meginley said Murphy’s surviving family would be attend the burial. “There’s going to be a visitation and awards ceremony between 11:00 and 1:00, which of course, will be followed by the funeral service at the American Legion Bogalusa.” Murphy was then laid to rest at Pounds Pool cemetery in Bogalusa.
