Remains of World War II Soldier to be buried in Dixon, California

Courtesy Photo | The remains of Army Pvt. Leroy M. Slenker, a Soldier killed during World War II, will be interred July 12 in Dixon, California. Slenker was a member of the 75th Ordnance Depot Company when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. He was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members captured and interned at Prisoner of War camps when U.S. forces in Bataan fell to Japanese forces. Slenker was subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and died a POW Nov. 15, 1942.  

FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES

07.05.2023

Story by Fonda Bock 

U.S. Army Human Resources Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of Army Pvt. Leroy M. Slenker, a Soldier killed during World War II, will be interred July 12, at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, Dixon, California. Graham-Hitch Mortuary Inc., Pleasanton, California, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.

A native of El Segundo, California, Slenker was a member of the 75th Ordnance Depot Company, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island May 6, 1942.

Slenker was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members captured and interned at Prisoner of War camps when U.S. forces in Bataan fell to Japanese forces. The men were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March, then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp where more than 2,500 POWs perished during the war. Historical records indicate Slenker died Nov. 15, 1942, at age 28, and was buried with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 721.

Following the war, American Graves Registration Service personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery, relocating the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. Six sets of remains were identified in 1947 – the rest were declared unidentifiable and buried as unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM). The remains were disinterred June 2018 and sent to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

Slenker was accounted for by the DPAA Feb. 3, 2023, after his remains were identified using dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Although interred as an unknown in MACM, Slenker’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

For additional information about Pvt. Slenker, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3296438/soldier-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-slenker-l/

To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call [phone]/1169.

Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact the Army Casualty Office at [phone] and/or Graham-Hitch Mortuary Inc., [phone].


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• Date Taken: 07.05.2023
• Date Posted: 07.05.2023 14:33
• Story ID: 448578
• Location: FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US