Airman who was shot down, imprisoned during World War II accounted for
A World War II airman who was taken captive by Japanese forces and died in a prison fire after his plane was shot down has been accounted for, military officials said Wednesday.
U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Glenn H. Hodak, 23, was a member of the 93rd Bombardment Squadron in the 19th Bombardment group in March 1945, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a news release. Hodak, of Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, was a gunner aboard a B-29 "Superfortress" aircraft. These planes had multiple machine guns, held over 20,000 pounds of bombs and were especially suited to fly to Japan from bases in China during World War II, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Hodak's plane was shot down while on a mission to Tokyo. He was initially reported as missing in action, the DPAA said, but investigators learned he had been captured after the plane was taken down. He was taken to the Tokyo Military Prison.
In late May 1945, U.S. aircraft heavily bombed Tokyo, causing huge fires and burning hundreds of structures, according to Military.com. One of the destroyed buildings was the Tokyo Military Prison. Hodak was among the service members being held there at the time. None of the people imprisoned at the facility survived the blaze, Military.com reported. They were buried in a mass grave.
The American Graves Registration Service disinterred 65 sets of remains from the prison in early 1946, after World War II ended. The service was able to identify 25 sets of remains. One was a Japanese person, the DPAA said. The 39 unidentified sets of remains were interred as Unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.
In 2022, the sets of remains were disinterred again and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. In 2024, the DPAA launched the Tokyo Prison Fire Project. In a social media post, the agency said the project "faces considerable forensic challenges due to the burned and fragmentary condition of the remains and extreme commingling."
To identify Hodak's remains, DPAA scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence, the agency said. DNA sequencing has also been used to identify service members who died at the prison, the DPAA said on social media.
"The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has had recent success accounting for Americans from the Tokyo Prison Fire. We have accounted for two service members thus far for this project," the agency told CBS News.
Hodak's surviving family members have been informed that his remains have been accounted for, the DPAA said. He will be buried in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, in May.
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