New Mexico World War II veteran laid to rest, nearly 82 years later

CLOVIS, N.M. — Nearly 82 years after U.S. Army Sgt. Sam A. Prince died as a prisoner of war in World War II, he was finally laid to rest Thursday.

Prince’s family paid their final respects to him at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens in Clovis. It comes after Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency personnel accounted for him on April 25.

Prince died on Sept. 22, 1942, while being held at the Cabanatuan POW Camp #1 after being subjected to the Bataan Death March.

While American Graves Registration Service personnel exhumed his remains and others from the camp’s cemetery in 1947, they still hadn’t identified him. He was interred at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as an unknown soldier for the next 72 years.

In 2019, the DPAA sent his “unidentifiable” remains to a laboratory for advanced analysis. That led to his identification earlier this year.

Clovis and Curry County first responders, and personnel from New Mexico State Police, the New Mexico National Guard and Cannon Air Force Base, attended the services Thursday.