82 years later, Clovis POW coming home

Last Wednesday, Joann Luscombe, her aunt, Frances Simon, and her father, Buddy Prince, gathered at Muffley's Funeral Home in Clovis. 

They were there to proofread the obituary for their long lost relative, Sgt. Sam Prince -- a Clovis native whose remains were recently found after he died 82 years ago as a prisoner of war in the Philippines. 

The obituary for Sam Prince, a member of the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment, reads more like a history book than a personal story. That's because those who did know him were too hurt by his death to regale younger generations with stories. So, what's left is a jaw, shoulder, leg, tooth and one massive question: Who was Sam Prince?

"You wonder, did everybody not talk about it?" asked Luscombe.  

Simon said there's no real way to answer that question. All she knows is that her family didn't. 

To illustrate how little is known about Sam, here's the conversation between Buddy (Sam's nephew) and his sister, Simon (Sam's niece) when asked what he did for work. 

Simon said she heard he "was sometimes a fireman and played in the fireman's band, but Daddy (Sam's brother) did that, too."

"There was the picture of Daddy in the band, but I didn't see Sam," Buddy said.

"I didn't either," Simon said.

Older generations lost in time

Perhaps the absence of knowledge is a byproduct of how their family operated. Older generations didn't talk much about themselves. Buddy said there weren't family reunions or Christmas gatherings that could offer a time for storytelling. More likely, however, is their grieving in silence. 

"You know that he was on their mind. Even in their dying days, I'm sure he was on their mind," Luscombe said. 

When asked how his dad (Sam's brother) felt about Sam's situation, Buddy said he never brought it up. 

"In fact, there is a headstone in Santa Fe at the national cemetery that my dad paid to have put up there that I didn't know about until recently," Buddy said. 

Sure, Simon and Luscombe have regrets they didn't ask about it more when those who knew Prince were around. Then again, how were they supposed to when those same people never mentioned it in the first place?

"It would be a sad thing to talk about because he was a POW overseas," Simon said. 

According to his obituary, Sam Anthony Prince was 28 when he passed away as a prisoner of war at Cabanatuan POW Camp #1 on Luzon Island, Philippines.

He enrolled in 1940 and "served with Headquarters Company, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment in the Philippines during World War II."

Then, "The regiment arrived in the Philippines in 1941 and was stationed at Fort Stotsenburg on Clark Air Base."

Come April 9, 1942, "Sgt. Prince was with his unit when Allied troops in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese" who invaded the Philippines, resulting in the Bataan Death March – the transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war.

And by Sept. 22, 1942, he died of "diphtheria, malaria, and dysentery" in a POW camp. 

Then, 82 years later, on April 25, Sam's remains were associated and identified with his body. 

When Luscombe found out last June she had one question: "How did they know it was Sam?"

There were some attempts in the past, but none that were ultimately successful. 

Doctor helped make ID possible

Prince (Buddy) said a key factor in the identification process was dental records that Sam's dad sent. Another was a Japanese doctor who secretly recorded each death in a notebook. 

Simon said "he kept it on the down low" because if the Japanese knew he was helping preserve the memories of Americans he would've been killed. 

"The Japanese would've destroyed it. They destroyed everything they could," Luscombe said. 

Identifying Sam took several decades for multiple reasons. 

For starters, according to Luscombe, identifying Sam took so long because his body was just one of countless others dumped in a massive grave site. 

During this time, bones disintegrated or got displaced, mixing and matching with other bones. Excavators digging them up jostled bodies around, which moved bones further away from the original skeleton they were attached to. 

Dog tags, one way to identify a fallen soldier, were no help. Some soldiers would collect several from other soldiers, meaning they could pass away with several on their person, which made it difficult to know who was who. 

Valerie McLellan, a family member, said it takes the Army's Mortuary Affairs "five years" to identify where to look and the process of matching DNA to Sam Prince is a "big, long process."

Come 10 a.m. on Aug. 8, Sam will have a funeral – a real one – at the Muffley Funeral Home chapel followed by burial with his parents, Henry and Bettie Prince, at Clovis' Mission Garden of Memories. Tammy Rodriguez, who helps run Muffley's Funeral Home, is doing what she can to ensure it's a positive experience. 

At one point, she came into the room to show Simon, Buddy and Luscombe a photo of Sam with a renewed background. One that places a vibrant American flag behind him.

"Oh yeah that's real nice," Luscombe said. 

"I think it pops out," Rodriguez said. 

On one hand, Luscombe, Buddy and Simon are all thankful. Among those 75,000 involved in the Bataan Death March, there are still soldiers who haven't been found. 

On the other hand, their heart goes out to Sam's parents, his five siblings and closest friends who needed – and deserved – to see this day, but passed on before they could.