The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has announced the successful identification of U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Alvin R. Scarborough, a 22-year-old airman from Dossville, Mississippi, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II. The identification, made on September 21, 2023, was made possible through a DNA match with his great nephew, Cullen Scarborough, a dean at Cochise College in Sierra Vista, Arizona.
Gene, Alvin's brother, was also taken as a prisoner of war and imprisoned at the same camp. He was able to see Alvin shortly before Alvin passed away. Gene survived three years of captivity and was released after liberation. Five brothers volunteered for military service at the same time during WWII. Photo Courtesy: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Alvin Scarborough served with the 454th Ordnance Company (Aviation) when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in late 1942. After intense fighting, U.S. forces surrendered Bataan on April 9, 1942, and Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942. Scarborough was among the thousands of American and Filipino soldiers captured and forced to endure the brutal 65-mile Bataan Death March. He was eventually interned at the Cabanatuan POW camp, where more than 2,500 prisoners lost their lives during the war.
Historical records indicate that Scarborough died on July 28, 1942, and was buried in Common Grave 215 at the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery. After the war, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) exhumed these graves, but many remains, including Scarborough's, could not be identified at the time and were interred as Unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM).
In 2018, the DPAA disinterred remains associated with Common Grave 215 for further analysis. Through a combination of anthropological studies, circumstantial evidence, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis conducted by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, Scarborough's remains were finally identified. The process was initiated in 2016 when officials reached out to Cullen Scarborough to obtain a DNA sample to aid in identifying his great uncle.
Despite being interred as an Unknown for more than 70 years, Alvin Scarborough’s grave was meticulously maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). His remains will now be returned to Mississippi for a burial in Carthage, with the date yet to be determined.
1st Sgt. Cullen Scarborough sends a holiday greeting home to Sierra Vista from Kabul, Afghanistan in 2008
Cullen Scarborough, who retired from the Army in 2012 after a distinguished 21-year career as a 35F intelligence analyst, played a crucial role in bringing his great uncle home. Cullen, who met his wife Melissa while both were stationed at Fort Huachuca, was recently appointed as the dean of military programs and workforce development at Cochise College. The couple, who have made Sierra Vista their permanent home, expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to help identify Staff Sgt. Alvin Scarborough and bring him home to Mississippi.
Comments