The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Pvt. Robert L. A. Hurst, 21, of Wabasso, Florida, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II, was accounted for July 10, 2023.

In late 1942, Hurst was a member of the 429th Signal Maintenance Company when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and interned at POW camps.  Hurst was among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan POW camp. More than 2,500 POWs perished in this camp during the war.

According to prison camp and other historical records, Hurst died July 27, 1942, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 225.

Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. Three sets of remains from Common Grave 225 were identified, but the rest were declared unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns.

In early 2018, the remains associated with Common Grave 225 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Hurst's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, Hurst's grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).

Hurst's personnel profile can be viewed HERE.

A public visitation will take place on Friday, February 16, 2024 from 2 - 6 pm & Saturday, February 17, 2024 from 10 -11 am at Cox -Gifford Funeral Home in Vero Beach. A funeral service will take place on Saturday, February 17, 2024 at 11 am following the visitation at Cox -Gifford Funeral Home in Vero Beach. Interment will follow at Winter Beach Cemetery in Vero Beach.

The family would like donations sent to Wreaths Across America (specifically for Winter Beach Cemetery) or to The Cultural Council of Indian River County World War II tribute at Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary in Vero Beach Cultural Council of Indian River County WWII Tribute Fund