{"id":348196,"date":"2026-07-22T04:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/348196\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T04:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:57:15","slug":"wwii-pow-sgt-leonard-mcneill-returns-to-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/348196\/","title":{"rendered":"WWII POW Sgt. Leonard McNeill returns to Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

, Fla. \u2014 Decades after being taken a WW II prisoner of war, U.S. Army Air Forecs Sgt. Leonard J. McNeill is coming home to Orlando, the Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency <\/a>announced Tuesday. Sgt. McNeill\u2019s remains were accounted for on October 9, 2025.<\/p>\n

Sgt. McNeill, who died as a Prisoner of War, served as a tail gunner aboard a Boeing B-29 \u201cSuperfortress\u201d bomber. During a bombing missing against the Nakajima Aircraft Enging Plant, the aircraft crashed. Circumstances surrounding the crash are unknown.<\/p>\n

McNeill survived the crash, but was held as a prisoner of war at the Tokyo Military Prison. In May of 1945, there was a fire at the Prison where The Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency says Sgt. McNeill died.<\/p>\n

After the war, the Amercian Graves Registration Service<\/a> recovered 65 sets of remains from the Tokyo Military Prison, they were unable to identify any as McNeill. After identification efforts, U.S. forces interred 39 Unkowns associated with the prison.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the 39 Unknowns were exhumed for comparison to associated casualties. Scientists identified Sgt. McNeill\u2019s remains through DNA testing and comparisons with thirty-nine previously unknown soldiers.<\/p>\n

Sgt. McNeill will be buried in his hometown on Nov. 11, 2026<\/p>\n

Family and funeral information can be foud by visiting the Army Casualty Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

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TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":", Fla. \u2014 Decades after being taken a WW II prisoner of war, U.S. Army Air Forecs Sgt.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142510,147,145,142509,28,142508,139,141,140,96840,142511,144,146,8603],"class_list":["post-348196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-b-29-superfortress","tag-central-florida","tag-channel-9","tag-defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency","tag-florida","tag-leonard-j-mcneill","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-prisoner-of-war","tag-tokyo-military-prison","tag-wftv","tag-wftv-channel-9","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}