By Daniela Vestal, U.S. Army Human Resources Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of U.S. Army Pvt. Elmer F. Blonien, 27, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, will be interred at All Souls Cemetery in Rudolph, Wisconsin. Services and interment are being coordinated by Ritchay Funeral Home.

In late 1941, Blonien was a member of Company A, 192nd Tank Battalion, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and interned at POW camps. Blonien was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.

According to prison camp and other historical records, Blonien died Nov. 15, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 721.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Blonien on Jan. 5, 2026.

For more information on DPAA’s efforts to locate and identify Blonien, please visit: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4435764/soldier-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-blonien-e/

U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch plays a vital role in the process of identifying, locating and contacting subsequent generation family members of Soldiers missing or killed in action during WWII and the Korean War to positively identify previously undiscovered or unknown remains.

Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact Ritchay Funeral Home at 715-423-1414.