Rhode Island native killed during WWII to be buried in Pawtucket
PAWTCUKET, R.I. (WLNE) — U.S. Army Human Resources Command said that a soldier from Pawtucket who died in 1942 during World War II will be buried at Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery on Nov. 30.
U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Henry J. McConnell was assigned to the 2nd Observation Squadron in the Philippines.
The Army said that McConnell was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members who were captured and interned at POW camps when U.S. forces in Bataan fell to the Japanese.
He was subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and held at the Cabanatuan POW camp, where historical records said he died on July 26, 1942, at age 28.
The Army said that McConnell was buried at the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 225, which was disinterred in 2018.
McConnel was identified using circumstantial evidence as well as dental, anthropological, mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosome DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.
More information on McConnell can be found here.
