Remains of WWII POW from Massachusetts accounted for

BOSTON — An American service member who survived the notorious Bataan Death March during World War II but later died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp has finally been accounted for, military officials announced, Friday.

The remains of Army Air Forces Pvt. Joseph E. Lescaut, of Cambridge, Mass., were identified, in August, using mitochondrial DNA analysis as well as dental and anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a statement.

Lescaut, a member of the 16th Bombardment Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group, was reported captured when US forces on the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines surrendered to the Japanese, in 1942, the agency said.

Thousands of captured US and Filipino service members subjected to a brutal 65-mile forced march and many were held at the Cabanatuan POW camp, where more than 2,500 POWs perished.

According to prison camp and other records, Lescaut died July 26, 1942, and was buried with other prisoners in Common Grave 225 of the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery.