Veteran welcomes home great uncle’s remains after 83 years
U.S. Army Veteran Bob Buys has finally welcomed home the remains of his great uncle who died in 1942 after being held captive in the Philippines.
By Olivia Yatooma
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KENT COUNTY, Michigan (WXMI) — U.S. Army Veteran Bob Buys has finally welcomed home the remains of his great uncle who died in 1942 after being held captive in the Philippines.
Robert Buys, 74, received confirmation that his great uncle, Sergeant James W. Swartz, was identified in November 2024 after decades of being unable to identify his body. “He’d been identified November of 2024 and his funeral was May 3 this year in Fowlerville,” Buys said.
Swartz enlisted in 1939 in the Army Air Corps. According to the Department of Defense records Buys shared with FOX 17, Swartz died on September 23, 1942, while in Japanese captivity.
“According to what I’ve heard, he was shot down in the Philippines, survived the plane crash, captured by the Japanese, and then was forced to walk in this Bataan Death March,” Buys said.
The records indicate Swartz died of dysentery and malnutrition while in the prison camp. “Basically, he was starved to death,” Buys said.
For decades, the family had no closure. In 1956, Swartz’s mother wrote to the Department of Defense seeking information about her son’s burial site.
“Dear Sirs, would you please let me know if there’s any kind of cemetery or burial grounds for the boys who died in World War Two in the Japanese prison camp?” she wrote in the letter.
Because Swartz was buried in a mass grave, there was no way to identify his body until recent advances in DNA technology.
In 2017, Buys received a letter from the Department of Defense requesting a DNA sample to help identify remains found in the Philippines.
“Makes me proud that my small effort to give my DNA is what allowed them to identify his body,” Buys said.
Buys comes from a long line of military service members. He served during the Vietnam War from 1970 to 1974, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father who also served during wartimes.
Now that Sergeant Swartz has been properly laid to rest on American soil, Buys has connected with Swartz’s great-granddaughter and is planning a family reunion. “A family reunion is in the works, yes… all to celebrate James Swartz’s return,” Buys said.
For Buys, the homecoming represents the importance of honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“People that have sacrificed that much, thank you doesn’t seem to be enough. But as our actions, as we continue on, we need to remember those people very well,” Buys said.
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