Memorial Day Reflection: “He Was a Soldier” – General Fort’s Call from the Grave

On this solemn Memorial Day, we remember the thousands of American heroes who still lie unknown — some beneath the white crosses of our national cemeteries, others still lost on the battlefields of the past, like Brigadier General Guy O. Fort.

In 1935, General Fort stood at Camp Keithley cemetery in Marawi and delivered a heartfelt Memorial Day address, pleading for the identification of fallen soldiers whose records were lost and whose names had been forgotten. Just seven years later, he and three fellow officers — Lt. Col. Robert H. Vesey, Capt. Albert H. Price, and 1st Sgt. John L. Chandler — were executed by Japanese forces at that very same place. All four remain Missing in Action, buried in shallow, unmarked graves.

Today, the Asymmetric MIA Accounting Group (AMAG) is leading an independent, self-funded mission in Mindanao to locate General Fort and the Keithley Three so they can finally receive their names and the honorable burial they earned.

This powerful episode explores Fort’s own words — “He was a soldier” — the heartbreaking irony of his fate, and the revolutionary promise of Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG). We highlight how private labs, like Bode Technology, are already identifying WWII remains — such as those of Arthur H. Kelder from the Cabanatuan POW camp — in just months, even from old formaldehyde-treated bones.

As Fort himself once pleaded for the unknown, his voice still calls us home. It’s time for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and AFDIL to fully embrace DNA-first, FIGG-led methods so no more families wait generations to know their loved one’s final resting place.

He was a soldier.
And no American soldier — or family — should have to wait any longer.

⏳ It's About Time 🇺🇸

If you’re a listener moved by our podcast stories, please support our AMAG’s recovery mission in Mindanao with a donation here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-amags-mission-mindanao-forgotten-graves-false-closures-and-new-hope