{"id":349419,"date":"2026-07-23T03:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T03:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349419\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T03:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T03:00:15","slug":"orlando-wwii-airman-identified-80-years-after-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349419\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando WWII airman identified 80 years after death"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 The remains of an Orlando airman who died as a prisoner of war during World War II have been identified more than 80 years later.<\/p>\n

U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Leonard J. McNeill was 27 when he died in Japan. The Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency<\/a> said he was officially accounted for Oct. 9, 2025, but details were withheld until his family received a full briefing.<\/p>\n

McNeill served as a tail gunner aboard a B-29 Superfortress assigned to the 881st Bombardment Squadron and 500th Bombardment Group.<\/p>\n

In April 1945, his aircraft crashed during a bombing mission targeting an aircraft engine plant in Musashino City, Japan. The exact circumstances remain unclear, but records indicate crews on the mission saw a plane explode near the target before falling to the ground.<\/p>\n

McNeill survived the crash and was taken prisoner. He died May 26, 1945, during a fire at the Tokyo Military Prison.<\/p>\n

After the war, American personnel recovered 65 sets of remains from the prison but could not identify McNeill. Thirty-nine unidentified sets of remains connected to the prison were eventually buried at what is now the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

The agency exhumed those remains in March and April 2022 for additional testing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Leonard McNeill Photo <\/p>\n

Scientists identified McNeill using anthropological analysis, historical evidence and several forms of DNA testing.<\/p>\n

McNeill\u2019s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. A rosette will be placed beside his name to show that he has been accounted for.<\/p>\n

McNeill will be buried Nov. 11 in Orlando.<\/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

<\/a><\/p>\n

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

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 The remains of an Orlando airman who died as a prisoner of war during World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[147,145,142509,28,142508,139,141,140,96840,143000,144,146,8603],"class_list":["post-349419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","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-u-s-army-air-forces","tag-wftv","tag-wftv-channel-9","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349419","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=349419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}