{"id":446408,"date":"2026-11-03T20:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T20:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/446408\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T20:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T20:06:15","slug":"orlando-wwii-airman-sgt-leonard-mcneill-will-be-buried-on-veterans-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/446408\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando WWII airman Sgt. Leonard McNeill will be buried on Veterans Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 An Orlando airman who died as a prisoner of war during World War II will be laid to rest on Veterans Day, more than eight decades after his death.<\/p>\n

The family of U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Leonard James McNeill has announced services for Wednesday, Nov. 11, including a funeral in Orlando and burial at Greenwood Cemetery.<\/p>\n

Channel 9 previously reported on the identification of McNeill\u2019s remains<\/a>. He was officially accounted for Oct. 9, 2025, according to the Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency.<\/p>\n

Community invited to services\"\"<\/p>\n

Leonard McNeill Photo <\/p>\n

According to his obituary and service schedule<\/a>, relatives, friends, veterans and community members are invited to honor McNeill.<\/p>\n

Visitation: Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Carey Hand Colonial Funeral Home, 2811 Curry Ford Road, Orlando.Funeral: Wednesday, Nov. 11, from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. at the funeral home.Graveside service: Wednesday, Nov. 11, from noon to 1 p.m. at Greenwood Cemetery, 1603 Greenwood St., Orlando.Celebration of life: Wednesday, Nov. 11, from 4 to 8 p.m. at World of Beer, 431 E. Central Blvd., Orlando.Remembering McNeill\"\"<\/p>\n

Leonard McNeill Photo <\/p>\n

McNeill was 27 when he died. He served as a tail gunner aboard a B-29 Superfortress assigned to the 881st Bombardment Squadron, 500th Bombardment Group.<\/p>\n

His aircraft crashed during an April 1945 bombing mission in Japan. He survived but was captured and later died during a fire at the Tokyo Military Prison on May 26, 1945, according to the accounting agency.<\/p>\n

His family\u2019s obituary describes a life in Orlando before the war, where he met his wife, Melba, and raised three children.<\/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 An Orlando airman who died as a prisoner of war during World War II will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[147,145,142509,28,173660,139,141,140,96840,143000,144,146,8603],"class_list":["post-446408","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-james-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\/446408","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=446408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}