FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Bernard F. Sweet, 21, of Bennington, Vermont, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, will be interred Aug. 8 at Park Lawn Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. Service and interment are being coordinated by Delvin Funeral Home.
In the fall of 1942, Sweet was a member of Headquarters Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and interned at POW camps. Sweet was among those reported captured when U.S. forces on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese. He was subsequently held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.
According to prison camp and other historical records, Sweet died on Oct. 20, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 701.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Sweet on Aug. 14, 2025.
For more information on DPAA’s efforts to locate and identify Sweet, please visit: [https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4407662/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-fatur-s/](https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4559223/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-sweet-b/)
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 Delvin Funeral Home, 802-430-8236.