Remains of WWII prisoner of war from Hopkinsville accounted for, burial date set
WASHINGTON – A World War II prisoner of war was accounted for in November 2025, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
DPAA says the family of U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Weber S. Underwood, 25, of Hopkinsville, was provided a full briefing on his identification and more details are now available.
Underwood was a member of the 28th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. DPAA says “intense fighting” continued until the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.
DPAA says prison camp and other historical records show that Underwood died on June 3, 1942, at the Tayabass Road work detail.
In 2023 and 2024, DPAA, as part of the Cabanantuan Project, exhumed Unknowns associated with the prison camp cemetery. DPAA scientists used dental and anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence to identify Underwood.
DPAA says Underwood will be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 6, 2026.
According to a release, Gov. Beshear will order flags lowered to half-staff in honor of Underwood on the day of interment.
