By Daniela Vestal, U.S. Army Human Resources Command
FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Delmor W. Erwin, 20, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, will be interred Oct. 15 at Settlement Cemetery in Shirley, Arkansas. Services and interment are being coordinated by Roller-Chenal Funeral Home.
In late 1941, Erwin was assigned to 31st Infantry Regiment, 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. Erwin 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 imprisoned at the Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp #1.
According to prison camp and other historical records, Erwin died on Nov. 26, 1942, due to malaria, and his remains were interred in a common grave.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Erwin on Mar. 25, 2026.
For more information on DPAA’s efforts to locate and identify Erwin, please visit: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4465417/soldier-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-erwin-d/
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 Roller-Chenal Funeral Home, 501-224-8300.
