Prisoner of War killed during World War II identified as Ohio soldier

(WKBN) — A family finally has some closure after the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified previously unknown remains as a Cleveland soldier who went missing in World War II.

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. William B. Bucey‘s family now knows what became of him. Bucey, only 29, was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II.

He was accounted for on March 3, 2025, and his family received a full briefing before the information was released to the public.

In 1942, Bucey was a member of the 121st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Army, which conducted
guerrilla operations behind Japanese lines after the invasion of the island of Luzon in the
Philippines. Conventional fighting ended with the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9,
1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942, but Bucey’s unit continued to resist.

Bucey was eventually captured by the Japanese and sent to the Cabanatuan POW Camp #1. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.

According to prison camp and other historical records, Bucey died Oct. 31, 1944, and was buried
along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave
836.

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. Two of the sets of remains from Common Grave 836 were identified
based on dental comparisons. The remaining four were declared unidentifiable and interred at
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as Unknowns.

In December 2020, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, DPAA exhumed the remains associated with Common Grave 836 and sent them to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. To identify Bucey’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological, and radioisotopic analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.

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

Today, Bucey is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Bucey will be buried in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, in August 2025. For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.