They were good enough to die for their country, but their country wasn’t good enough to bury them in the country they gave their lives for.
The Nininger tragedy was compounded when other young Philippine Scout officers were also consigned to eternity as Unknowns by the same bumbling Army brass who mismanaged the identification of Nininger. The cases had become so intertwined, so political, that the identification of any one of them would require explaining what happened to the others. The easy way out was to let sleeping lieutenants lie – don’t identify their remains, classify the records as national security secrets, and deny any knowledge of them.
READ MORE The remains of the five men had been recovered and at least four of them had been recommended for identification until Colonel Clarke, perhaps in an effort to repair his tarnished reputation, provided erroneous information on their burial locations. The geniuses in Washington never asked the source of Clarke’s information or they would have realized that he had been relieved of his command and was not even in the area when the five were buried. Instead, the brass disregarded the witness information, disapproved the otherwise valid identification recommendations, and sent everyone on a wild goose chase that extends to the present. Even when their errors became known, the attitude in Washington was the families be damned, it was more important to avoid disclosure of their incompetence than to return their sons for burial at home. With Colonel Clarke’s help, Washington had created a mess of epic proportions and they seemed intent on making it worse. In addition to 1LT Nininger, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the four other “misplaced” Philippine Scout officers were: When Colonel Clarke’s demonstrably erroneous information was disregarded, it was obvious that 1LT Nininger’s remains were X-1130 recovered from the Abucay Cemetery. These remains were interred as an Unknown in the Manila American Cemetery grave J 7 20 on 29 September 1950. Unidentified remains X3566 were recommended for identification as 1LT Maynard based on solid information. These remains were interred as an Unknown in the Manila American Cemetery grave N 5 42 on 13 April 1950. This turned out to be a busy day at the cemetery. The unidentified remains designated as X-1572 Manila Mausoleum (f/k/a X-3536 Manila Cemetery #2) had been recovered from San Pedro St., Hermosa, Bataan and were immediately identified as those of 1LT Kenneth Wilson by a local civilian who had known LT Wilson well. When the recommendation that these remains be identified as Wilson was disapproved by Washington, they were interred as an Unknown in the Manila American Cemetery, grave L 4 22, on 13 April 1950. The unidentified remains designated as X-1671 Manila Mausoleum (f/k/a X-166 and X-3431 Manila Cemetery #2) was one of two graves from a row of fourteen graves of Philippine Scouts buried just outside the wall of the Abucay Church. All of them had died at Abucay Hacienda. The recommendation that these remains be identified as those of 1LT John C. Compton was disapproved by Washington and these remains were buried as an Unknown in the Manila American Cemetery, grave L 12 22 on 13 April 1950 – the same day that Wilson and Maynard were buried. Original report of interment showing Unknown X-3431 was believed to be 1LT John lC. Compton. The only one of the five who had not been formally recommended for identification was Lt Arthur W. Green. By a process of elimination, it is likely his remains were X-1051, X-1052, or X-1063 Manila Cemetery #2 as these were the only Unknowns from Soldiers Row in the Abucay Cemetery where Nininger’s remains were recovered. The local graves registration command believed that two other second lieutenants assigned to the 31st Infantry and who died just days after the first five were likely buried in the same area and included the names of 2LT Claude Smock, from Salina, California, and 2LT Thomas O. Speers, from Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania in the same case notes. show less
1LT David W. Maynard, from Bell, California
1LT John C. Compton, from Clearwater Beach, Florida
1LT Arthur W. Green, from Richmond, California
1LT Kenneth L. Wilson, from Omaha, Nebraska
