Identification of Karl Loesche, prisoner of war belonging to South Jersey, during the Second World War.

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"We think that after 76 years, my brother, who was 19 when he was sent there and 23 when he died, will end his life," said his sister Marion Atkinson of Bensalem. , Pennsylvania, to Courrier-Post.

"We felt that he needed to bring her back and bury her with my mother and father."

Atkinson said that during the war his family was only informed of Loesche's disappearance and what the army later asked him about the family's dental records. She said that she and her brother Richard of Florida were the only surviving siblings.

A graduate of Woodstown High School, Loesche was already part of the 3rd Prosecution Group, the 24th Prosecution Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands on December 8, 1941, the day after the Pearl Harbor attack. Hawaii.

He was captured after Corregidor's surrender on May 6, 1942, according to Duus.

"Thousands of American and Filipino servicemen were taken prisoner, many of whom were forced to attend the Bataan Death March as they were heading to prisoner camps. Japanese war, including Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, "the statement said.

"More than 2,500 prisoners of war perished in this camp during the last years of the war."

A memorial service will be held on November 17 at 11am in the Emanuel Lutheran Church, 366 Cohansey Road Friesburg, Elmer, where friends will also be able to visit at 10am. Interment will be in the church cemetery under the direction of the Adams Funeral Home of Woodstown.

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