KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A soldier from Missouri who was captured as a prisoner of war (POW) during World War II has been accounted for.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Friday that U.S. Army Sgt. Simon Garelick, 22, of St. Joseph, Missouri, who died as a POW during WWII, was accounted for on October 7, 2024.

Garelick's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, which is why additional details on his identification are now being shared.

Garelick was stationed in the Philippines in late 1941, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of the Bataan peninsula on April 9, 1942, and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members were captured and inter

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