WWII soldier from New Mexico identified

A World War II veteran from New Mexico who died as a prisoner of war was identified in July. The announcement was made on Friday May 31. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Manuel Trujillo, 22, of Santa Fe, was captured and killed by Japanese forces. The capture occurred after the surrender of U.S. forces at Bataan on April 9, 1942. Stay up to Date: The latest headlines from KOAT Action 7 News. The reason for the delayed announcement was due to the fact that the full briefing on his identification was only recently received by his family. Trujillo was captured and he and other prisoners of war were forced to make the March of the death of Bataan, 65 miles long. The surviving men were then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. After the World War, the remains were moved to a temporary location by the U.S. Graves Registry Service. Three sets of remains could be identified by AGRS. The rest of the remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as unknown. These unidentified remains were sent decades later to the DPAA laboratory for analysis in 2018. Historical records show that Trujillo died on July 26, 1942. He is scheduled to be buried in Santa Fe on Friday, July 26. Stay up to date with the latest news with the KOAT app. You can download it here.