Riverside WWII soldier who died in Japanese POW camp returns home
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Eight-two years to the day after he died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Charles R. Powers has returned home to Riverside.
Powers died at age 26 on July 18, 1942 after contracting diphtheria while a prisoner in the Philippines. Official word of his death took four years to make it to his family.
His partial remains stayed in the Manila American Cemetery for decades, along with those of other service personnel whose bodies could not be identified at the time. But in 2018, Powers’ remains were taken to a laboratory for DNA analysis and identification by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
On Tuesday, July 16, his partial remains — a mere three bones — were flown from Hawaii to Ontario International Airport and escorted back to Riverside County. On Thursday, July 18, 82 years after his death, he was buried at Riverside National Cemetery with full military honors.
Dozens of family members, community members and current and former military personnel gathered at a small amphitheater overlooking a pond.
U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Charles R. Powers, seen here in an undated family photo, died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines in 1942. Eighty-two years after his death, he was reburied in Riverside National Cemetery with full military honors. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Powers)
Dave Powers, second from left, and uncle of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers receives the American flag from an honor guard as Nina Ray, great grand niece, looks on during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Dave Powers, center, uncle of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers receives support from Charlie Power, right, also an uncle, speaks to those gathered for the Private’s funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
The dog tags of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers hang off his casket during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
An honor guard carry the casket of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers, as his family follows, during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
An honor guard carry the casket of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Gabriel Gamez, from Adelanto, plays Taps during funeral services for U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
An honor guard detail fold the American flag above the casket containing U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
An honor guard carry the casket of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
The hearse carrying the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers arrives at Riverside National Cemetery for his funeral services on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
The hearse carrying the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers arrives at Riverside National Cemetery for his funeral services on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
An honor guard detail prepare to remove the casket containing U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers from a hearse for funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Members of the Patriot Guard carry the casket of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers to his final resting place following funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
An honor guard carry the casket of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers, as his family follows, during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
An honor guard detail fold the American flag above the casket containing U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
This undated photo provided by The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) shows World War II service member U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. 1st Class Charles R. Powers, from Riverside, Calif. The long-unidentified remains of Powers who died in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the Philippines in 1942 were returned home to California on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (DPAA via AP)
An honor guard carry the casket of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt.1st Class Charles R. Powers, as his family follows, during funeral services at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and was buried at Riverside National Cemetery on Thursday 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
“We do not leave anyone behind,” Deacon Joseph Franco of St. Francis of Rome in Wildomar — a veteran himself — told the crowd. Although it took some time for Powers to come home, he was now “here, in his homeland of the United States.”
Powers’ nephew Charlie Powers lives in San Gabriel. Now 72, he was born 10 years after his namesake died.
“I was aware that he was in the service in the Pacific and that my father was in the service in the European theater,” Charlie Powers said before Thursday’s ceremony. “He’s kind of my remembrance for Memorial Day.”
This undated photo provided by The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) shows World War II service member U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. 1st Class Charles R. Powers, from Riverside, Calif. The long-unidentified remains of Powers who died in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the Philippines in 1942 were returned home to California on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (DPAA via AP)
Charles Powers was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1915. A story on his death in the July 28, 1945 issue of the Riverside Independent Enterprise reported Powers moved to Riverside in 1926 and graduated from Riverside Polytechnic High School in 1935. He worked as a chef after high school before enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps — the predecessor to today’s U.S. Air Force — in July 1940.
Pfc. Powers was a member of 28th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines, when Japanese forces invaded in December 1941. The field was attacked Dec. 8, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Pfc. Powers and 76,000 other U.S. and Filipino service members were captured. They were forced to march 65 miles in the infamous Bataan Death March.
Prisoners were marched up the Bataan Peninsula before being loaded into train cars and taken to Camp O’Donnell, a former Philippine army training center repurposed as a camp for prisoners of war. During the march, prisoners were subjected to horrific violence, including beheadings, by their captors.
More than 30% of American service personnel captured on the Bataan Peninsula died as prisoners of war, about 10 times the rate of other Allied POWs during World War II.
Powers’ death led his mother, Anna M. Steel, to become a founding member of the Riverside chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, which has since expanded to serve the entire Inland Empire. The organization honors the memory of those who died as part of their military service through community service.
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In 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency contacted Powers’ family to say it was looking at remains that may be those of their missing relative. Powers’ brother Dave submitted a DNA sample for the military to compare to those taken from the Manila American Cemetery, where Powers’ remains were listed as those of an unknown soldier.
“A year ago, they reached out to my brother and said ‘we think we’ve got him,’ ” Charlie Powers said.
Even though he never met his namesake, the military’s efforts to identify and return his uncle home, the work of volunteers and the community members who showed up in Ontario Tuesday and at the cemetery Thursday deeply touched him, Charlie Powers said.
“I don’t suffer from the loss, because we never had him. It’s not even really a grief,” he added. “Yes, it’s closure. But the experience has been one of pride. You can’t believe how nice everyone associated with this is.”
Among those coming out in support of Powers and his family is Laura Herzog of Garden Grove. She’s the founder of Honoring Our Fallen, a nonprofit that works with the Department of Defense to help coordinate the return and burial of fallen soldiers.
“Every family’s needs are different and every family’s different,” she said. “We do what we can to reduce the costs of the funeral family and other things that the families don’t need to pay for.”
The Powers family isn’t grappling with the same kind of grief experienced by families that have suffered a recent loss. So instead, Herzog said, she worked to coordinate transportation for the Powers family and alert Riverside County first responders that a World War II veteran would be buried Thursday.
“It is an absolute honor for us to be involved in bringing this soldier home,” managing partner Justin P. Luyben wrote in an email. “It is amazing that our military cares enough to take the time to do all of the DNA testing and follow through with returning our military heroes to their respective home towns.”
A U.S. Army escort stands next to the hearse carrying the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. 1st Class Charles R. Powers at Ontario International Airport on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and will be buried at Riverside National Cemetery on July 18, 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Members of the Patriot Guard show their respect as the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. 1st Class Charles R. Powers leaves Ontario International Airport on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and will be buried at Riverside National Cemetery on July 18, 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Bob Hope USO volunteers show their respect as the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. 1st Class Charles R. Powers leaves Ontario International Airport on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Powers, originally from Riverside County, went missing after being captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands in 1942. His remains were identified through DNA and will be buried at Riverside National Cemetery on July 18, 82 years to the day of his death. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
After a short ceremony at the water’s edge, members of the Patriot Guard Riders escorted Powers’ casket to a waiting hearse, dog tags swinging on the casket handle. Powers was later buried in a private, family-only ceremony.
At a time when the American public is deeply divided, the outpouring of love and support for his uncle touched Charlie Powers deeply, he said. He hoped the country could push back on the “hatred and division” facing it currently.
“This guy gave this life for you, so we could have our freedom that we take for granted,” he said.
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