"WELCOME HOME WWII POW"
U.S. Army Air Forces Warrent Officer Junior Grade
WILLIAM J. MCMICHAEL
of Boyertown, Berks County, PA
U.S. Army Air Forces Warrent Officer Junior Grade
WILLIAM J. MCMICHAEL
of Boyertown, Berks County, PA
On Thursday October 2, 2025, around 4:45 p.m. the remains of WOJG William J. McMichael arrived at the Catagnus Funeral Home in Gilbertsville.
The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Warrant Officer Junior Grade William J. McMichael, 36, killed during World War II, will be interred Oct. 7, 2025 in Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The Catagnus Funeral Home will coordinate graveside services preceding the interment.
McMichael was held as a prisoner of war by the Empire of Japan in the Philippines from 1942 to 1944. When the Japanese military moved POWs to Manila for transport to Japan aboard the transport ship Oryoku Maru, a U.S. carrier-borne aircraft, unaware allied POWs were aboard, attacked the ship which eventually sank in Subic Bay.
After a series of land and naval transfers, McMichael was transported to Takao, Formosa, aboard the Enoura Maru. The Japanese government reported that McMichael died on January 9, 1945, when U.S. forces sank the Enoura Maru.
After the war, U.S. personnel exhumed a mass grave on a beach at Takao that contained the remains of U.S. service members. The remains could not be identified at the time and were interred as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Between October 2022 and July 2023, DPAA disinterred Unknowns linked to the Enoura Maru and transferred the remains to the DPAA laboratory. There, scientists used modern forensic techniques to individually identify McMichael. He is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for McMichael on April 3, 2025.
U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch plays a vital role in the process of identifying, locating and contacting subsequent generation family members of Soldiers missing or killed in action during WWII and the Korean War to positively identify previously undiscovered or unknown remains.
He has a 97 year old sister Audrey, who is in poor health and was not there to see his remains arrive back home. His grandson, Timothy McMichael was there to welcome him home. The McMichael family now has closure, William is back home.
The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Warrant Officer Junior Grade William J. McMichael, 36, killed during World War II, will be interred Oct. 7, 2025 in Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The Catagnus Funeral Home will coordinate graveside services preceding the interment.
McMichael was held as a prisoner of war by the Empire of Japan in the Philippines from 1942 to 1944. When the Japanese military moved POWs to Manila for transport to Japan aboard the transport ship Oryoku Maru, a U.S. carrier-borne aircraft, unaware allied POWs were aboard, attacked the ship which eventually sank in Subic Bay.
After a series of land and naval transfers, McMichael was transported to Takao, Formosa, aboard the Enoura Maru. The Japanese government reported that McMichael died on January 9, 1945, when U.S. forces sank the Enoura Maru.
After the war, U.S. personnel exhumed a mass grave on a beach at Takao that contained the remains of U.S. service members. The remains could not be identified at the time and were interred as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Between October 2022 and July 2023, DPAA disinterred Unknowns linked to the Enoura Maru and transferred the remains to the DPAA laboratory. There, scientists used modern forensic techniques to individually identify McMichael. He is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for McMichael on April 3, 2025.
U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch plays a vital role in the process of identifying, locating and contacting subsequent generation family members of Soldiers missing or killed in action during WWII and the Korean War to positively identify previously undiscovered or unknown remains.
He has a 97 year old sister Audrey, who is in poor health and was not there to see his remains arrive back home. His grandson, Timothy McMichael was there to welcome him home. The McMichael family now has closure, William is back home.
Double Click on the link below to go to the WFMZ story
www.wfmz.com/news/area/berks/after-80-years-remains-of-young-wwii-soldier-return-to-boyertown-for-burial/article_67a07bc8-6f10-421f-bc29-bbb7bbb3d957.html
www.wfmz.com/news/area/berks/after-80-years-remains-of-young-wwii-soldier-return-to-boyertown-for-burial/article_67a07bc8-6f10-421f-bc29-bbb7bbb3d957.html
This is the news clip from 6 ABC out of Philadelphia
6abc.com/videoClip/17978677/
6abc.com/videoClip/17978677/
This is the video from the PA House of Representatives
pagopvideo.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/765595216.mp4
pagopvideo.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/765595216.mp4
"WELCOME HOME" photos October 2, 2025
