Photo By Alexander Rector | New York Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the New York Military Forces Honor...... read more read more
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BOONVILLE, N.Y. – Eight New York Army National Guard Soldiers provided funeral honors for a World War II Soldier who survived the infamous Bataan Death March --only to die in a Japanese POW camp later-- on August 23, 2005.
Army Private Harland Hennessey, a resident of Boonville New York, was interred next to the graves of his parents with full military honors provided by the New York Army National Guard Honor Guard.
The New York Honor Guard also conducted the plane side ceremony in Rochester when Hennessey’s remains arrived back in New York at the Greater Rochester-Frederick Douglas International Airport on August 21.
Being part of this service was memorable, said Army Guard Sgt. Justin Kehati, a member of the New York Military Forces Honor Guard.
“It’s extremely humbling,” Kehati said.
“I was doing some research, and he was 24 when he died, according to the records. You know, that really puts things into perspective. It's just, it's very humbling, and it's probably the greatest honor I'm going to be able to have,” he added.
Hennessey was the first resident of Boonville to be inducted following the passage of a military draft law in 1940, when he joined the Army on May 29, 1941. He was assigned to the 803rd Engineer Battalion, a part of what was then the United States Army Air Forces.
He was assigned to the American garrison in the Philippines —then an American territory— and fought the Japanese following their invasion of the island of Luzon on Dec. 8, 1041. Hennessey and other American and Filipino Soldiers fought a rear-guard action on the Bataan Peninsula until they ran out of food and ammunition and were forced to surrender April 9, 1942.
The 78,000 surrendered Soldiers were marched 65 miles to a prisoner of war camp over six days, and many died or were killed by the Japanese along the way. Hennessey made it to a prisoner camp in Cabanatuan in central Luzon.
Hennessey’s prison camp was overcrowded, holding approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war. Prisoners faced shortages of food and water, leading to malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. He died in November 1942, and his family was notified of his death by the International Red Cross and the U.S. Army on July 10, 1943.
But he had been buried in a mass grave and his remains could not be identified at the time. His remains, along with other unknowns, were relocated in 1947 to the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.
In 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began working to identify the unknown remains taken from the Cabanatuan camp. Using DNA provided by Hennessey’s nephew John Hennessey, also a Boonville resident, Harland Hennessey’s remains were identified on September 23, 2024.
“It's just really amazing for the families to know that the military supports them and supports their family member that passed away,” said Sgt. Alexandra Johnson, the mission coordinator for the Hennessey ceremony.
“We get to bring him home and honor him and the sacrifice that he made to his country,” she said.
“It's important to honor those who served before us and their sacrifice that they made, so we can live the way that we do,” added Cpl. Gabriel Estrada, another Honor Guard member.
The Boonville Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter (5538) named itself the Harland J. Hennessey VFW Post in his memory in 1945. The post continues to the present day and played a key part in honoring Hennessey’s service and return.
"Today we gather not only as a community, but as a family, united in remembrance and gratitude and pride. For too long, Private Hennessey's story was left unfinished," said VFW Commander Johnathan Vienneau. “It’s our namesake coming home. It’s emotional.”
John Hennessey, the nephew who donated the DNA to identify his uncle, received the flag for funeral honors, along with a dozen members of the extended family.
"I think about, as a mother, having your first born, the child that made you a mother, to lose them that way, fighting for their country and then suffering the way he suffered; I think everyone feels that sense of relief that she is reunited with her son," said Dona Hennessey Carhart, a great niece.
With Hennessey’s remains no longer unknown, his memorial on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines will be replaced with a rosette to indicate his identification and known resting place.
| Date Taken: | 08.23.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2025 14:28 |
| Story ID: | 546410 |
| Location: | BOONVILLE, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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