WWII Missing Soldier Remains Return to Rochester for final military honors
Media Advisory
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (11/04/2025) — The remains of a Lyons, New York, resident who died in World War II will return to Frederick Douglas Greater Rochester International Airport tomorrow for transfer to his hometown for burial with full honors by the New York Army National Guard.
A New York National Guard Military Forces Honor Guard will provide honors for the return of Army Air Corps Staff Sgt. John A. Pagliuso, who died on October 5,1942 during a bombing mission over Papua New Guinea.
He was listed as missing until his remains were identified in March of this year.
Pagliuso's casket will be brought home to Lyons by the Boeheim-Pusateri Funeral Home.
Media are invited to view the return of remains and transfer ceremony on Wednesday, November 5.
WHO: Members of the New York National Guard Honor Guard join the family of Army Air Corps Staff Sgt. John A. Pagliuso for his return to New York for final military honors.
WHAT: The honorable return of remains of WWII Army Air Corps Staff Sgt. John A. Pagliuso. His remains return 83 years after the October 1942 mission over New Guinea, in which he was killed.
WHEN: Noon, Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at the Frederick Douglas Greater Rochester International Airport.
WHERE: 1200 Brooks Ave, Rochester, NY 14624.
Media Opportunity:
Imagery of transfer honors for the return of WWII missing Army Air Corps Staff Sgt. John Pagliuso in Rochester. For access to the airport, coordinate directly with Sean Cleary, Airfield Operations Manager at seancleary@monroecounty.gov or at 585-753-7017 before the close of business on Tuesday, November 4, to coordinate linkup time for escort onto the airport grounds.
Media representatives will arrive at the airport Gate 5 off East Airport Road for linking up with Sean Clearly. See attached image.
For more information, contact New York Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Michael Lebron, the family casualty assistance noncommissioned officer at 585-783-5318.
For funeral details, contact the Boeheim-Pusateri Funeral Home at 315-946-4230.
Background
Army Air Corps Staff Sgt. John A. Pagliuso
Staff Sergeant John A. Pagliuso was born to Italian immigrants in 1918, growing up in the village of Lyons, New York. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Mitchel Field, Hempstead, New York, October 3, 1939.
He trained as an aerial photographer and joined the 405th Bombardment Squadron, 38th Bombardment Group, and served in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World War II.
On October 5, 1942, the B-25D Mitchell medium bomber he was onboard did not return from a mission over the Territory of Papua (now Papua New Guinea).
Part of a flight of two, the bombers patrolled the coastal area near Buna until they made visual contact with one large enemy transport escorted by two Japanese destroyers.
They radioed the position of the convoy and immediately engaged the enemy force.
Six Japanese fighter aircraft proceeded to pounce on the twin-engine bomber, and Pagliuso's B-25D was last observed in a steep dive with six Zeros on their tail.
The second aircraft successfully broke contact and safely returned to base, where the squadron scrambled six more B-25s, but those crews encountered opposition from enemy fighter pilots and were forced to jettison their bombs and return to base.
Officials reported Pagliuso and the six other crew members missing.
Search efforts located the aircraft crash site in 1944 and recovered only one set of remains for the six crewmembers, which were unidentified, later interred as Unknown X-133 at the cemetery established at Fort McKinley, Manila, known as the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial since 1960.
A final search in northern Papua took place from July through December 1948. A team of U.S. officers, enlisted men, and local guides, interpreters, and laborers questioned hundreds of local officials and residents but collected no additional evidence related to the crew of Pagliuso's B-25D.
Pagliuso was memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Republic of the Philippines.
His wife, Lucile Pagliuso, then residing in Jackson, Mississippi, received the notice from the War Department December 13, 1945 changing his status from missing to dead.
In 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recommended the disinterment of these Unknown remains with a list of possible candidates for association; those candidates included Pagliuso, one of the aircraft crew members. The remains were exhumed in December 2022 and escorted to the DPAA Laboratory in Hawaii for analysis.
His remains were confirmed through a DNA match with Pagliuso's maternal niece and sister on March 17, 2025.
Pagliuso will be laid to rest adjacent to his parents' plot at Old Elmwood Cemetery.
New York Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors was established in July 1999. Our teams provide military funeral honors for more than 850 veterans each month.
Military Funeral Honors are an excepted activity during the federal government lack of appropriations.
Media Attachments
Staff Sergeant John A. Pagliuso
Gate 5 Road location
New York National Guard
Lt. Col. Jean Kratzer, 518-786-4581Share this Story
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