World War II Riverside Soldier
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – A soldier from Riverside who died after the Japanese invaded the Philippines in World War II returned home to the United States Tuesday, for burial in his hometown.
U.S. Army Air Corps Pvt. Charles R. Powers was 18 when he died in July 1942 on the island of Luzon.
The National Cemetery Administration has arranged for the repatriation of Powers’ remains for interment at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday.
According to the nonprofit, Powers was attached to the 28th Material Squadron, 20th Air Base Group at Nichols Field south of Manila when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on Dec. 7, 1941, followed immediately by a series of air assaults that largely decimated U.S. defense assets in the Philippines and led to the naval and ground invasion of the U.S.-held archipelago.
While what was left of American Army and Navy air forces retreated to the Dutch East Indies and Australia, ground personnel were left to try to fend off the Japanese invaders, culminating in the surrender of the Bataan peninsula in April 1942 and Corregidor weeks later.
Powers was among the tens of thousands of U.S. personnel subjected to the infamous “Bataan Death March” into captivity. At Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp, he was imprisoned and among over 2,500 men who died there. Camp records show he passed on July 18, 1942, buried in a local cemetery.
“Although interred as an `Unknown’ … Powers’ grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission, along with others still missing from WW II,” Honoring Our Fallen said.
His identity was ultimately confirmed, leading to arrangements for the repatriation of his remains.
The funeral service on Thursday was for family only.
More information is available at www.HonoringOurFallen.org.
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