World War II Soldier Identified After 80 Years Laid to Rest at Arlington
The remains of Sergeant Henry Younge, who died in a military prison in Tokyo after his plane was shot down during World War II and was considered missing for 80 years, were buried at Arlington National Cemetery following identification.
Sergeant Henry “Harry” Younge, who served in the U.S. Army Air Forces and died in a fire at a military prison where he was held captive after his plane was shot down over Japan in 1945, was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on August 3, 2026, after being identified through efforts by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
Disappearance in the Line of Duty and Captivity
The plane of 20-year-old Henry Younge, who served as a tail gunner on a B-29 bomber, was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire during an operation over Tokyo on the night of April 15, 1945. Surviving by parachuting from the burning aircraft, Younge was captured and taken to the Tokyo Military Prison.
More than a month after his capture, on the night of May 25, 1945, Younge lost his life in a fire that broke out during another air raid on Tokyo. As the fire reached the prison, not all prisoners could be evacuated, and the deceased American soldiers were buried in a mass grave the following day.
Years of Identification and DNA Efforts
While 25 of the 65 individuals exhumed from the mass grave after the war were identified, the remains of 39 unidentified soldiers were transferred to the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines in 1950. The process gained momentum again in 2018 with initiatives and the crossing of the family DNA sample threshold required for the DPAA to exhume the graves.
In the spring of 2022, unidentified remains were exhumed as part of excavation work conducted by the DPAA. Following the analysis of DNA samples obtained from Younge's niece Janet Clement and other relatives, the identity of the soldier, who had not been heard from for 80 years, was definitively confirmed.
Final Farewell at Arlington National Cemetery
Following the identification, Younge's family chose Arlington National Cemetery as the burial site. His nieces and nephew, Janet Clement, Lynn Olsen, and Robert Harry Clement, who attended the ceremony held on August 3, 2026, paid their final respects to the uncle they never knew.
Speaking during the ceremony, the army chaplain noted that Younge endured captivity for his country, and after the rifle salute, the American flag draped over Younge's casket was presented to his family. His relatives expressed that with this burial following decades of uncertainty, their uncle's memory has finally found peace.