SEARCHING FOR THE MISSING SOLDIERS

FIRST LT. ALEXANDER NININGER JR., 23

Died January 12, 1942 in Bataan, Philippines At the United States Military Academy at West Point, Nininger was known mostly as a scholarly and polite cadet, but when his battalion was nearly overrun by the Japanese, he changed into a fearless warrior.

BRIG. GEN. GUY FORT, 63

Died November 11, 1942 in Mindanao, Philippines Fort, originally from Michigan, had lived for 40 years in the Philippines before Second World War broke out. When the Japanese attacked, he commanded a division of local forces. He was executed by firing squad.

PTE. DAVID HANSEN, 25

Died June 28, 1942 in Cabanatuan P.O.W. Camp, Philippines Private Hansen was training to be a bombardier on a B-24 bomber in the Philippines when Second World War started. He died of dysentery and bayonet wounds in a concentration camp.

PTE. ARTHUR KELDER, 26

Died November 19, 1942 in Cabanatuan P.O.W. Camp, Philippines A dental assistant in the medical corps, Private Kelder, of Illinois, was taken captive when forces surrendered to the Japanese in the spring of 1942. After months living in squalid conditions at a prison camp, he died of what the Army later said was malaria and a vitamin deficiency disease.

TECHNICIAN LLOYD BRUNTMYER, 21

Died November 1, 1942 in Cabanatuan P.O.W. Camp, Philippines Ralph Bruntmyer, who grew up in Des Moines, was a new soldier at an American air base in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked. He was eventually captured and marched to a concentration camp, where he died from what the Army later called “inattention” and was buried in a mass grave.

COL. LOREN STEWART, 49

Died January 11, 1942 in Bataan, Philippines Colonel Stewart, the commanding officer of the 51st Regiment of Philippine Scouts, of Maine, had lived on the Islands for years. After the Japanese invasion, his troops fell back to the Bataan Peninsula. During a fierce night attack, he sneaked up to reconnoiter enemy positions and was killed by machine-gun fire.