English: Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) and the U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”, conduct military funeral honors with funeral escort for U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. Doyle Sexton in Section 55 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., Apr. 26, 2024.

From a news release from Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA):

“In late 1942, Sexton was a member of the Headquarters Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and interned at POW camps. Sexton was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.

According to prison camp and other historical records, Sexton died July 19, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 312.

Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Twelve sets of remains from Common Grave 312 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.

In early 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 312 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Sexton’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Sexton’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission."

Sexton was officially accounted for on July 13, 2023. Sexton’s nephew, Robert Sexton, received the U.S. flag from his uncle’s service.

(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)