ARLINGTON, Va. (Sept. 19, 2025) — The name of U.S. Army Capt. Willibald C. Bianchi, engraved in stone and overlaid with gold, on the Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery now has a bronze rosette next to it signifying he has been identified.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Bianchi’s identification Sept. 19 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency during the annual POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony at the Pentagon.

The Medal of Honor recipient, missing since 1945, was honored with the nation’s highest military award for valor in 1942 for his heroism under fire, but was also remembered for his care of fellow service members during the Bataan Death March and later as a prisoner of war. Numerous servicemen wrote to Bianchi’s mother following the war, telling her they owed theirs lives to her son. He died Jan. 9, 1945, on a Japanese POW “hell ship,” but his remains were not recovered at the time.

Bianchi, a member of the 45^th Infantry Regiment (Philippine Scouts), received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Feb. 3, 1942, near Bagac, Province of Bataan, Philippine Islands, when he continued an attack on a heavily fortified enemy position, even while being wounded several times himself. He was taken prisoner in April 1942 with approximately 75,000 other American and Filipino Soldiers when the Philippines was surrendered to Japan.

Bianchi was from New Ulm, Minnesota. According to his biography from the Minnesota Medal of Honor Memorial, during the Bataan Death March, “the prisoners were half crazed by hunger, thirst, and the heat. In spite of Bianchi suffering from the same horrible conditions, he was up and down the line helping the men, spurring them on, and sharing their burdens. Otherwise, it was certain they would have been killed by the Japanese.”

Bianchi is one of almost 120 Medal of Honor recipients from World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam and Korean wars buried or memorialized at American Battle Monuments Commission sites around the world. He will be the 11th of those missing in action or buried at sea to be identified with a rosette.

The rosette, a symbol of eternity, is crafted as a bronze rosemary wreath—a timeless emblem of honor and victory. Encircled by the eight-points of a compass, it signifies America’s commitment, reaching out in all directions to recover their remains from the farthest corners of the earth.

Manila American Cemetery in Taguig City, Philippines, is American Battle Monuments Commission’s largest cemetery in the world and honors those who were killed in World War II during operations in the Pacific, mostly in New Guinea and the Philippines, between December 1941 and September 1945. Approximately 17,000 American service members are buried at the cemetery, and more than 36,000 individuals are memorialized on the Walls of the Missing. The site was officially dedicated Dec. 8, 1960, and includes the final resting places of approximately 600 Filipino Scouts.