82 years later, World War II Milwaukee airman accounted for, will be buried in Brookfield

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Friday that U.S. Army Air Force Pvt. 1st Class David C. Hansen of Milwaukee was identified after being buried in a mass grave in the Philippines during World War II. Hansen was identified in late August through a project, which aims to identify unknown soldiers from Cabanatuan POW Camp #1. Hansen died June 28, 1942, and was buried in Common Grave 407. He was captured when U.S. forces in Bataan, Philippines, surrendered to the Japanese and were forced on the 65-mile Bataan Death March to the camp, a forcible transfer of around 75,000 prisoners of war. Hansen’s remains were identified through dental and anthropological analysis. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System also used mitochondrial DNA and mitochondrial genome sequencing. He is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines, and a rosette will be placed next to his name to show he has been accounted for. Hansen will be buried in Brookfield, Wisconsin.