IL HR0904

Illinois House of Representatives honors U.S. Army Private First Class Harry Jerele, a Berkeley, Illinois native who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during World War II

PFC Jerele served with the 192nd Tank Battalion, Company B, and was captured during the fall of Bataan in April 1942; he survived the 65-mile Bataan Death March but died in the Cabanatuan POW Camp on December 28, 1942

PFC Jerele's remains were initially buried as an Unknown at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial after post-war identification efforts in 1947 proved unsuccessful

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified PFC Jerele's remains on December 20, 2023, using anthropological analysis, circumstantial evidence, and mitochondrial DNA testing on remains disinterred in 2020

PFC Jerele will receive full military honors burial at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood on October 4, 2024