Lost in 1942, WWII Soldier Returns home to Kentucky for Burial
FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of Technician Fourth Grade Reuben Smiddy, 33, missing from World War II, will be interred Sept. 12 at Andes Cemetery in East Bernstadt, Kentucky. Services and interment are being coordinated by Bowling Funeral Home.
Smiddy entered the U.S. Army from Kentucky and served with the 17th Ordnance Company in the Philippines during World War II. He was taken prisoner after the American surrender in April 1942 and was forced on the Bataan Death March to Camp O’Donnell in Tarlac Province.
On May 21, 1942, Japanese guards conscripted American prisoners from the Camp O’Donnell POW camp for a road construction detail along Tayabas Road, near Calauag, Philippines. Nearly three hundred POWs began road construction along the Basiad River to connect Route 1G (Old Tayabas Road) with a highway running north. As work progressed, many POWs fell ill to malnutrition and disease.
Over the next two months, Japanese guards sent the sickest prisoners 175 miles north to Bilibid Prison in Manila, though the number and identity of the POWs sent to Bilibid are unknown. The Japanese guards closed the project by late July when most prisoners became too sick or weak to work.
While at Camp O'Donnell, Smiddy was assigned to the labor crew working on the Tayabas Road project. He died on June 15, 1942 and was buried with other POWs near Tayabas Road.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Smiddy on May 12, 2025.
For more information on DPAA’s efforts to locate and identify Pierce, please visit: [https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfilePrintable?id=a0Jt000001Hu1olEAB](https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfilePrintable?id=a0Jt000001Hu1olEAB)
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 Bowling Funeral Home, 606-864-2151.
| Date Taken: |
09.04.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
09.08.2026 10:52 |
| Story ID: |
574075 |
| Location: |
EAST BERNSTADT, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: |
75 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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