After being a prisoner of war for 81 years, the remains of U.S. Army Tec 5. Clifford H. Strickland of Fowler will finally be laid to rest in Florence. Strickland, a member of Company C, 803rd Engineer Battalion (Aviation), was taken captive by the Japanese following the U.S. surrender in the Bataan peninsula during World War II. He perished on July 29, 1942 at a POW camp in the Philippines and was initially interred at a POW cemetery before being moved to the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in 1948.
In 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began analyzing the remains associated with Common Grave 215 using modern scientific methods. After years of research and analysis, Strickland was finally identified through his teeth and DNA, among other techniques on December 20, 2023. His family is thrilled that after nearly 7 decades, they will finally have closure and can honor his sacrifice during the war by burying him at Union Highland Cemetery in Florence.