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Commission honors return of World War II PFC Norman R. Thomas; details of repatriation announced
Summary
The commission announced that the remains of Private First Class Norman R. Thomas, who died in captivity in the Philippines in 1942, have been identified and will be returned to Alabama for burial.
The Chilton County Commission announced that remains previously recovered from a World War II mass grave in the Philippines have been identified as Private First Class Norman R. Thomas, born Feb. 27, 1922, and arrangements are under way for his return and burial in Alabama.
The commission’s statement described Thomas’s service with the 408th Material Squadron, Fifth Air Base Group, his death in a prisoner of war camp outside of Cabanatuan (sometimes transcribed as Capitanatuan) on July 19, 1942, and the long recovery and identification process. According to the record, agency investigators exhumed remains associated with a mass grave designated CG‑312 and subsequent laboratory analysis as part of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Kapanatuan project led to the identification.
The meeting record states the identified remains will be shipped from Hawaii to Birmingham on commercial transport, accompanied by an honor guard; the funeral service will be at Martin Funeral Home, after which the veteran will be buried at Pleasant Valley in Enterprise beside his parents. The record says formal paperwork and sign‑offs at the laboratory and receiving offices remain part of the process prior to transport and burial.
The commission recognized the identification and return as a solemn event; no vote or formal action was required or recorded on the announcement. The meeting minutes include a reading of Thomas’s service record and details of the identification process.
