MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota native and United States airman taken prisoner by Japanese forces in the Philippines during World War II has now been accounted for, more than 80 years after his death.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced in a press release Thursday that the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Private Robert W. Cash, 20, of Minneapolis, were identified on April 3 of this year. The DPAA said it waited to make the information public until Cash's family was fully briefed.
According to DPAA, Cash was a member of the 28th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, when Japan invaded the Philippine Islands in December of 1941. The agency said Cash was captured following intense fighting and the subsequent surrender of U.S. troops on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island on April 9 and May 6, 1942, respectively.
Cash was among thousands of American service members captured from Bataan and forced to walk in the infamous Bataan Death March - a 65-mile trek to the Cabanatuan POW Camp - where he was held until his death.
Historical records show Cash died at the camp on July 16, 1942, of complications from dysentery and malaria. After his death, he was buried next to other POWs in the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery.
Private Cash was identified decades later through dental, DNA and anthropological testing after his exhumed remains were sent to the DPAA's lab in April 2019 for analysis. The remains were first examined in 1947 but were deemed unidentifiable until now.
A tribute to Cash currently adorns the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. The DPAA said a rosette will now be placed next to his name to show he's been identified.
Cash will reportedly be buried in Pittsford, New York, at a date that has yet to be determined.