Pvt. Arthur “Bud” Kelder comes home
After 72 years, Private Arthur H. Kelder will join his relatives in a family plot near Chicago. Kelder was one of the American troops captured in the Philippines and endured the grueling Bataan Death March. Kelder survived the march, but succumbed to illness and was buried in a common grave with thirteen other prisoners near the Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp in Luzon. His remains have finally been identified and they’re awaiting acceptance from his surviving family;
The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command’s Central Identification Laboratory (JPACCIL) has identified the remains of Private Arthur H. Kelder from the remains associated with Cabanatuan Common Grave 717 that were disinterred from the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.
2. On January 22, 2015, Douglas Kelder, the Primary Next-of-Kin of PVT Kelder, was notified of the identification by telephone by William E. Cox, Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, U.S. Army Human Resources Command.
Category: We Remember
Welcome home, brother.
Perhaps I’m a little off, but would it have been too much to ask for the Army to have sent a CACO to the relative’s house to make the notification ? A phone call just seems to impersonal. I realize he’s been gone for over 70 years, but he deserves our highest honor for his sacrifice.
What he said.
Agreed. Welcome home, Brother.
I was thinking the same thing. That’s poor form.
Agreed. I would volunteer for such duty in a heartbeat and I’m sure those of you still serving would as well. It is the least we could do for one of our fallen brothers in arms.
Who covers the costs at this point? I have always wondered how that works when someone long dead is discovered and brought home. I thought some of these men were placed in Arlington at government expense, but if the remains are awaiting family acceptance does that mean they are covering the costs?
Never dealt with any of this, have no idea how it works.
I can only guess at the hell that those men went through.
I’m glad he’s been found.
Welcome home elder brother. God rest you in your home soil now.
God bless him.
Rest well, brother.
You earned it.
PVT Kelder; AT EASE! Welcome Home. Rest ye well, my brother in arms.
Welcome home hero! From a grateful nation that never forgets…rest in peace.
Welcome home, brother.
Welcome home, PVT Kelder! Rest in peace.
Your duty is done. Welcome home soldier. Rest in peace.
Thank you, Brothers. We appreciate your comments.
Comments on some other websites have not been so kind. Many have questioned the cost, as I do, too. It shouldn’t average more than $1 million per identification, but remember that this is a government operation. We told them where he was buried and provided all the evidence the Army failed to obtain 70 years ago. It still took more than five years and two lawsuits to get the job done.
Yes, a visit from a CAC would have been nice. It would have been nice, too, if they had done the exam in a morgue rather than something resembling a high school science lab open to public viewing. Instead we were immediately pressured to sign off on their flaky ID package which resembled a middle school science project.
Our family is looking forward to a memorial service, but we have dis-invited the Army except for a very few people who went out of their way to help (often at substantial risk to their career). Only JPAC could actually make a death in the family worse.
Thanks again.
John Eakin
Update. I was on the flight from Honolulu to Chicago this morning and had a ring side seat of the Chicago fire department and team presenting a very nice off loading ceremony. You see the POW-MIA flag and ceremony at legion meetings, it is good to see the significance in action