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Remains of WWII Medal of Honor Recipient Capt. Willibald C. Bianchi Identified by DPAA

Modern DNA testing with forensic analysis confirmed his death in the 1945 Enoura Maru attack in Taiwan.

Overview

  • The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency officially accounted for Bianchi on Aug. 11, 2025, with the identification made public after his family was briefed.
  • His remains were among some 300 recovered in Taiwan in 1946 and later buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
  • DPAA disinterred unknowns tied to the POW transport between October 2022 and July 2023 for new examinations, with DNA testing conducted by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner system.
  • A rosette will be placed beside his name on the Manila American Cemetery’s Walls of the Missing, and he will be buried in New Ulm, Minnesota, in May 2026.
  • Bianchi commanded Philippine Scouts in Bataan, earned the Medal of Honor for a 1942 assault, and was killed when USS Hornet–based aircraft struck the Enoura Maru on Jan. 9, 1945.