PART 2: MILITARY HONORSThe Patriot Guard Riders have been invited to attend the military honors of repatriated WWII hero, U.S. Army Air Forces PFC Harry M. Seiff, a soldier from the Greatest Generation.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Private 1st Class Harry M. Seiff, 23, of Venice, California, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for December 18, 2023.
In summer 1942, Seiff was a member of the 20th Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, U.S. Army Air Forces, 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. Seiff was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then 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, Seiff died November 14, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 723.
Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Several sets of remains from Common Grave 723 were identified, but the remaining others were declared unidentifiable, including those of Pfc. Seiff. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.
In June 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 723 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Seiff’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).
Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Seiff’s grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
NOTE: This mission posting is to facilitate your voluntary participation in honoring this military veteran. For those interested, and all PGR members are welcome, we will be accompanying this WWII hero from Garden Grove to LANC, approximately 36 miles. Please see the timetable if you would like to participate. For those who would rather go directly to the mortuary, we will meet you there.
TIMETABLE FOR THURSDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 20240915: Stage at Honoring Our Fallen Administration Office, 5250 Lampson Ave, Garden Grove, CA.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HYVBg4mFThEhet3k80945: Mission briefing.
1000: KSU Los Angeles National Cemetery, 950 S Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, CA.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/33jqcwURFguuzbP471100: ETA to LANC. Flag line as hero is moved from the coach to the gravesite.
1130: Flag line and military honors.
TOM BARRY
California PGR State Captain
casc@patriotguard.org
(714) 206-1227You do not have to be a veteran or a motorcycle rider to attend this mission. All PGR members are welcome. We encourage those who do not ride to attend in your car. If this will be your first mission go to the staging area and you will be briefed there by the Ride Captain (RC). Dress for motorcycle riding or dress casually if you are driving a cage (car). Please feel free to attend any portion of this mission you can. Please ride/drive safely.
Please remember that our mission is to stand tall and silent, and with honor and respect for our heroes. No talking, smoking, or cell phone use during the flag line or service. Please keep radios off and engine noise to a minimum. Observe the 15 MPH speed limit. Remember, cemeteries are hallowed ground. Show respect to all who are there, not just the ones we are honoring.
