HR 335 — A Resolution honoring the life and legacy of United States Army Air Forces Warrant Officer William J. McMichael, expressing condolences to his family and commending with gratitude and respect the recovery and return of his remains.

PRINTER'S NO.    2413

                  THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



           HOUSE RESOLUTION
              No. 335
                                              Session of
                                                2025

     INTRODUCED BY MALONEY, COOK, D'ORSIE, GILLEN, JAMES, MAJOR,
        SCHEUREN, SMITH, KUZMA, O'NEAL, NEILSON AND KAUFFMAN,
        OCTOBER 7, 2025

     TO UNCONTESTED CALENDAR UNDER RULE 35 OCTOBER 7, 2025


                               A RESOLUTION
 1   Honoring the life and legacy of United States Army Air Forces
 2      Warrant Officer William J. McMichael, expressing condolences
 3      to his family and commending with gratitude and respect the
 4      recovery and return of his remains.
 5      WHEREAS, William McMichael was born June 30, 1905, in
 6   Boyertown, Berks County; and
 7      WHEREAS, William McMichael's sister, Audrey McMichael,
 8   survives him; and
 9      WHEREAS, A generation of McMichaels who never met William
10   McMichael include a grandson, Timothy McMichael, three great-
11   grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren; and
12      WHEREAS, William McMichael held the rank of Warrant Officer
13   Junior Grade at the time of his death; and
14      WHEREAS, William McMichael enlisted in the United States Army
15   Air Forces in 1922 at 17 years of age; and
16      WHEREAS, William McMichael, having earned an honorable
17   discharge, reenlisted into active service with the United States
18   Army Air Forces in 1932; and
 1         WHEREAS, In July 1941, William McMichael's unit was
 2   transported to the Philippine Air Depot, Nichols Field military
 3   base, Manila; and
 4         WHEREAS, On December 8, 1941, Japanese air raids began at
 5   Nichols Field and other Pacific military bases; and
 6         WHEREAS, On December 22, 1941, the Japanese invasion of Luzon
 7   Island near the shores of the Nichols Field base prompted United
 8   States forces to retreat west to the Bataan Peninsula; and
 9         WHEREAS, As armed conflict broke out, United States and
10   Filipino personnel were ordered to retreat toward the peninsula;
11   and
12         WHEREAS, On January 23, 1942, United States and Filipino
13   ground forces held off a Japanese amphibious landing assault on
14   the peninsula; and
15         WHEREAS, These ground forces blocked Japanese advances for
16   more than four months, running low on food, medicine and
17   ammunition and subject to Japanese gains in air superiority; and
18         WHEREAS, Disease and starvation were rampant throughout the
19   United States and Filipino ranks; and
20         WHEREAS, Without reinforcements, on April 9, 1942, the United
21   States Army Forces in the Far East surrendered; and
22         WHEREAS, The forcible transfer of prisoners of war, referred
23   to as the Bataan Death March, was an 11-day ordeal; and
24         WHEREAS, Between 72,000 and 78,000 United States and Filipino
25   prisoners of war marched 65 miles at gunpoint; and
26         WHEREAS, An estimated 5,000 to 18,000 Filipino prisoners of
27   war and an estimated 500 to 650 United States prisoners of war
28   died from exhaustion, starvation and disease or were shot by
29   their captors; and
30         WHEREAS, Survivors entered the Cabanatuan prison camp; and

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 1         WHEREAS, On May 5, 1942, the Japanese landed at Corregidor
 2   Island, cementing their foothold on the Bataan Peninsula; and
 3         WHEREAS, The next day, the remaining United States and
 4   Filipino forces surrendered and were sent to Cabanatuan; and
 5         WHEREAS, William McMichael, who endured the Bataan Death
 6   March, was among the prisoners of war at Cabanatuan; and
 7         WHEREAS, Cabanatuan infamously lacked food, water, sanitary
 8   conditions and medical care; and
 9         WHEREAS, The prisoners of war would be transferred throughout
10   the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, forced into manual labor in harsh
11   conditions to support the Japanese war effort; and
12         WHEREAS, By the summer of 1944, the Japanese began
13   transporting prisoners of war from the South Pacific island
14   chains to the Japanese home islands on hell ships, the cramped,
15   unsanitary transport vessels overloaded with bodies; and
16         WHEREAS, Under the Japanese plan, these prisoners of war
17   would be used for political leverage in surrender negotiations;
18   and
19         WHEREAS, On October 12, 1944, William McMichael was among
20   more than 900 prisoners of war prepared for transport on an
21   unmarked hell ship named the Oryoku Maru; and
22         WHEREAS, The next day, the Oryoku Maru departed Manila,
23   headed for the Japanese home islands; and
24         WHEREAS, Within hours of its departure, the Oryoku Maru was
25   registered as an enemy Japanese vessel by the aircraft carrier
26   USS Hornet; and
27         WHEREAS, The USS Hornet, unaware of the prisoners of war on
28   board, deployed aircraft to intercept; and
29         WHEREAS, This action killed more than 300 prisoners of war;
30   and

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 1         WHEREAS, Thereafter 1,300 prisoners and crew made it to shore
 2   alive at Olongapo Point, Subic Bay, Philippines; and
 3         WHEREAS, From December 13 through 19, 1944, William McMichael
 4   and his fellow prisoners of war were held at an Olongapo Point
 5   tennis court; and
 6         WHEREAS, From December 20 through 24, 1944, William McMichael
 7   and his fellow prisoners of war were sent by truck to a train
 8   station in San Fernando, Pamapanga, Philippines, for transport
 9   north; and
10         WHEREAS, From December 24 through 27, 1944, William McMichael
11   and his fellow prisoners of war were transported by train to San
12   Fernando, La Union, Philippines, where they were hauled onto a
13   new hell ship; and
14         WHEREAS, On December 27, 1944, William McMichael and his
15   fellow prisoners of war were transferred to a pair of new hell
16   ships, the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru; and
17         WHEREAS, Not marked as carrying prisoners of war, these ships
18   set for Takao Harbor, Formosa; and
19         WHEREAS, On January 1, 1945, while docked at Formosa, the
20   prisoners of war from the Brazil Maru were loaded onto the
21   Enoura Maru for final transport to the Japanese home islands;
22   and
23         WHEREAS, On January 9, 1945, William McMichael and 424 other
24   American prisoners of war died as the Enoura Maru traveled from
25   Formosa to Japan, attacked by United States carrier planes whose
26   crews did not know the ship was transporting prisoners of war;
27   and
28         WHEREAS, Approximately 900 surviving prisoners of war were
29   transferred to the Brazil Maru for the final journey to the
30   Japanese home islands; and

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 1         WHEREAS, Numerous discrepancies exist between eyewitness
 2   reports by survivors and official Japanese reports relating to
 3   prisoners of war; and
 4         WHEREAS, The remains of William McMichael were contained in a
 5   prisoner of war burial site at Formosa through May 1946; and
 6         WHEREAS, Search and Recovery Team #9 then extracted 407 sets
 7   of remains; and
 8         WHEREAS, The team designated William McMichael's remains as
 9   X-546A and sent them to the United States from Formosa; and
10         WHEREAS, William McMichael's remains were interred at the
11   National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific for more than seven
12   decades; and
13         WHEREAS, Disinterment occurred on October 30, 2017; and
14         WHEREAS, On July 26, 2018, DNA testing confirmed that remains
15   previously identified as belonging to one individual were
16   multiple sets of remains placed together; and
17         WHEREAS, The process of full DNA identification of individual
18   remains by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began in 2023;
19   and
20         WHEREAS, On April 3, 2025, the remains of William McMichael
21   were finally identified at Offutt Lab, Nebraska; and
22         WHEREAS, On October 2, 2025, William McMichael's remains
23   arrived in Berks County with full military honors; and
24         WHEREAS, William McMichael's military records were lost in
25   the 1973 St. Louis records fire that destroyed millions of
26   military records dating back to 1912; and
27         WHEREAS, For distinguished and heroic achievements in the
28   Asiatic-Pacific Theater, William McMichael earned the Bronze
29   Star Medal; and
30         WHEREAS, For giving his life in service to our nation,

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 1   William McMichael earned the Purple Heart; and
 2      WHEREAS, For being taken captive by the Japanese in May 1942
 3   in the aftermath of the Philippines Campaign, William McMichael
 4   earned the Prisoner of War Medal; and
 5      WHEREAS, For serving under active-duty orders for a period of
 6   more than 12 months between September 8, 1939, and December 7,
 7   1941, William McMichael earned the American Defense Service
 8   Medal; and
 9      WHEREAS, For serving in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater between
10   December 7, 1941, and March 2, 1946, William McMichael earned
11   the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; and
12      WHEREAS, For serving in the United States Armed Forces during
13   the period between December 7, 1941, and September 2, 1945,
14   William McMichael earned the World War II Victory Medal; and
15      WHEREAS, For distinguished service in the defense of the
16   Philippines between December 8, 1941, and June 15, 1942, William
17   McMichael earned the Philippine Defense Ribbon; and
18      WHEREAS, For participation in the defensive garrison,
19   stationed for more than 30 days, William McMichael was
20   authorized to wear a Bronze Service Star on his Philippine
21   Defense Ribbon; and
22      WHEREAS, For extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy
23   during or after December 7, 1941, William McMichael earned the
24   Presidential Unit Citation; and
25      WHEREAS, For participation in the war against the Japanese
26   Empire in the Philippines between December 7, 1941, and May 10,
27   1942, William McMichael earned the Philippine Republic
28   Presidential Unit Citation; and
29      WHEREAS, For honorable discharge from military service
30   granted between September 8, 1939, and December 31, 1946,

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 1   William McMichael earned the Honorable Service Lapel Button -
 2   World War II; and
 3      WHEREAS, William McMichael is being laid to rest in a
 4   military funeral service at Fort Indiantown Gap National
 5   Cemetery on October 7, 2025; and
 6      WHEREAS, The House of Representatives notes William
 7   McMichael's courage, camaraderie and sacrifice; and
 8      WHEREAS, The House of Representatives solemnly observes that
 9   an estimated 72,000 World War II service members are missing in
10   action and 81,000 total service members are missing in action
11   across the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War eras;
12   therefore be it
13      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor the life
14   and legacy of United States Army Air Forces Warrant Officer
15   William J. McMichael, express condolences to his family and
16   commend with gratitude and respect the recovery and return of
17   his remains.




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