The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that the remains of a Kentucky soldier who died as a prisoner of war in World War II will return home for burial next month.
In 1942, the Japanese military captured Private First Class Thomas Franklin Brooks at the Battle of Bataan. He was one of the 75,000 men subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March, after which he was held captive at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines. According to records from the camp, Brooks died as a prisoner on Dec. 10 that year, at 23 years old. He was then buried in a common grave with eight other prisoners.
After the war ended in 1945, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) exhumed the bodies at the Cabanatuan camp, hoping to identify them. Brooks was one of 2,700 deceased prisoners who remained unidentified, and his body was moved to an American cemetery in Manila. Brooks’ grave was cared for by the American Battle Monuments Commission until his body could be identified.
In 2014, many of Brooks’ living relatives provided DNA samples to the DPAA, hoping his body could finally be identified. Brooks’ body was disinterred in 2018 and finally confirmed as a match on June 20, 2023.
Brooks is scheduled to be buried on Oct. 1, over 80 years after his death. Brooks will be laid to rest near his hometown of Straw, Kentucky. According to a press release from the governor’s office, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear will order flags to be lowered to half-staff on the day of Brooks’ interment.
“It is heartbreaking to learn about this loss, but we are thankful for those doing the work to finally identify so many of the unknown casualties of war,” Beshear said in the release. “We are grateful to bring Pfc. Frank Brooks home where he belongs.”
Brooks will be flown from Hawaii to Louisville International Airport, where there will be a planeside transfer and a ceremony conducted by the Army Honor Guard. From the airport, a procession to Patton Funeral Home in Brownsville will be conducted by the Kentucky State Police, Rolling Thunder POW-MIA advocacy group members, and other military veterans. Another procession will be held from the funeral home to Hill Grove Missionary Baptist Church, where Brooks will be laid to rest at 11:00 a.m.
Brooks will receive an assortment of military honors, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, POW medal, American Defense Service Medal, and World War II Victory Medal, among others.