Army Pvt. Lewis B. Bolton died as a prisoner of war in the Philippines in 1942. His remains were identified in 2025, and he is finally coming home to East Tennessee.
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (Smokies.LIVE Information Center) — After more than 80 years, a Sevier County soldier who died as a prisoner of war during World War II is finally coming home.
U.S. Army Pvt. Lewis B. Bolton, 27, was captured by Japanese forces in the Philippines during World War II and later died in a prisoner-of-war camp. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that his remains were identified on June 27, 2025.
According to Bolton’s family, he will return to East Tennessee on Friday, Nov. 13, with a military escort from McGhee Tyson Airport. His next of kin still lives in the Gatlinburg area. A graveside service is planned for next week.
Bolton entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Tennessee and served with the 21st Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, in the Philippines.
Following the American surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, Bolton was among the service members captured by Japanese forces. He was forced to endure the Bataan Death March before being interned at Cabanatuan prisoner-of-war camp in Nueva Ecija Province.
Historical records indicate Bolton died on June 28, 1942, from malaria and malnutrition. He was 27 years old.
Conditions at Cabanatuan were extremely poor, with limited food and water contributing to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of disease. More than 2,500 American prisoners of war died at the camp during the war.
Bolton was buried in Common Grave 407 at the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery alongside other American prisoners.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service personnel exhumed the remains and moved them to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, investigators identified 16 sets of remains from Common Grave 407. Those who could not be identified were buried as unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
In 2019, the unidentified remains associated with Common Grave 407 were disinterred and sent to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory for further analysis.
Through scientific testing and an examination of historical and circumstantial evidence, investigators established that one set of those remains belonged to Bolton.
Before his identification, Bolton was memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
More than eight decades after his death, the identification will allow Bolton to return to his home state and receive a final resting place with the recognition and honors his family has awaited for generations.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said additional details about Bolton’s case will be released after his family receives a full briefing.
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