Remains of a World War II soldier from Mississippi have been identified
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (WCBI) – A World War II soldier who died as a Prisoner of War in the Philippines will be laid to rest this month in his hometown.
U.S. Army Tech 5 Edwin E. Ross was serving in the 17th Bombardment Squadron/27th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Force stationed in the Philippines in 1942 when Japanese forces invaded.
The Philadelphia, Mississippi native was one of the ten thousand American prisoners taken when Bataan and Corregidor fell in April and May of ’42.
He was taken to the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp and was one of the 2,500 prisoners who would die there.
In 2018, 18 sets of remains were taken from Common Grave 225.
Using anthropological analysis, circumstantial evidence, and DNA analysis, the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System was able to identify Ross’s remains in 2025.
His brother, Jack Ross, was also killed in the Pacific Theater in World War Two.
Edwin Ross will be reinterred in Philadelphia on April 17.
