A World War II pilot was captured by Japanese troops and died in a prison fire after shooting the plane, military officials said Wednesday.
US Army Air Force CPL. Glenn H. Hodak, 23, of Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, was a gunman on the A B-29 “Superfortress” aircraft. The aircraft had multiple machine guns, holding more than 20,000 pounds of bombs, especially suitable for flying from Chinese bases to Japan during World War II, according to the National Air Force National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Hodak’s plane was shot down while heading to Tokyo. He was initially reported missing during the operation, but investigators learned that he was captured after the plane was demolished, the DPAA said. He was taken to the Tokyo Military Prison.
National Defense Prisoners/MIA Accounting Agency
According to military services, in late May 1945, U.S. aircraft severely bombed Tokyo, causing fires and burning hundreds of buildings. One of the destroyed buildings is the Tokyo Military Prison. Hodak was imprisoned there at the time. According to Military magazine, anyone imprisoned at the facility survived the fire. They were buried in a large grave.
After the end of World War II, in early 1946, the U.S. Grave Registration Agency dissolved 65 bodies from prison. The service is able to identify 25 sets of remains. DPAA says that a person is Japanese. These 39 unknown bodies were buried as unknown in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Hall in the Philippines.
In 2022, the body collection was disbanded again and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. In 2024, DPAA launched the Tokyo Prison Firefighting Project. The agency said in a social media post that the project “faces a huge forensic challenge due to the burning and debris status and extreme chaos of the remains.”
National Defense Prisoners/MIA Accounting Agency
arrive Identify Hodak’s bodyDPAA scientists used dental and anthropological analysis as well as indirect evidence, the agency said. DNA sequencing has also been used to identify service workers who died in prison, DPAA said on social media.
“The Defense POW/MIA accounting agency has recently achieved success with Americans in the Tokyo Prison Fire. So far, we have accounted for two service members for this project.”
The DPAA said Hodak’s surviving family members were told his remains had been explained. He will be buried in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania in May.
