“My deepest sympathy goes out to you in the death of your son, Pfc. Joseph C. Murphy, while a prisoner of war of the enemy,” General MacArthur wrote in the letter.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service relocated the remains from the Cabanatuan cemetery to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila.
The remains were examined in 1947. Only two sets of remains were able to be identified. The rest could not be determined who they belonged to. They were buried as unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
For decades, Murphy’s remains went unidentified. Then, in 2019, researchers exhumed the remains and sent them to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory for testing.
The remains were severely decomposed, but dental records, mitochondrial DNA analysis, and circumstantial evidence helped the scientists identify Murphy’s remains in April 2024.
Although Murphy was interred as an unknown, his grave was cared for by the American Battle Monuments Commission for over 70 years.
Today, his memory is preserved on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. Next to his name, a rosette will be placed to indicate that he has been accounted for.
Murphy’s remains will arrive back at his home in Bogalusa, Louisiana, where they will be buried properly on August 3, 2024.
