WWII Army Private accounted for 80 years after ship sank in the Pacific

PIERCE COUNTY, Ga. (WALB/Gray News) — After being labeled “unidentifiable” for decades, the remains of a U.S. Army Air Forces Private who fought in World War II were accounted for.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Wednesday, March 25, the remains of Pvt. Bennett H. Waters, from Blackshear, were accounted for on June 18, 2025.

His family was recently given a full briefing on his identification, according to the DPAA.

Waters reportedly died on Jan. 9, 1945 after U.S. forces attacked and sank the Japanese ship that Waters was a prisoner on.

The DPAA said Waters was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Empire of Japan and eventually transported to Takao, Formosa.

Waters was aboard the Enoura Maru in modern-day Taiwan when U.S. forces attacked, officials said.

After the war, American search and recovery teams worked to locate and recover missing American personnel. In May 1946, recovery teams reportedly found a mass grave on a Takao, Formosa beach. 312 bodies were recovered but declared unidentifiable, according to the DPAA. The bodies were then buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In October 2022, the DPAA said officials disinterred the unidentified bodies linked to the Enoura Maru for further analysis. Scientists used anthropological analysis, circumstantial evidence and mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA analysis to identify the remains, the DPAA said.

The DPAA said that Waters’ name is currently recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will be added next to his name to indicate that Waters has been accounted for.

Officials said that Waters will be buried in Blackshear at an undetermined date.

More information about the DPAA can be found online.

Information about Waters’ family and funeral can be found with the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.