Remains of WWII Army private from Butte coming home on Wednesday

The remains of World War II Army Pvt. Henry "Harry" David Bordner, who died Oct. 20, 1942, will finally be coming home to Butte on Wednesday.

Bordner’s remains will be flown into the Bert Mooney Airport by military personnel from McChord Air Force Base in Pierce County, Washington, likely around 6:30 p.m., military officials said Monday.

Upon arrival, a military honor guard will perform a dignified transfer ceremony. From there, an honor line will be along Airport Road, and the public is invited to line the street along Harrison Avenue.

A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, 2100 Farragut Ave. Internment will full military honors will follow at Mountain View Cemetery.

Pvt. Bordner was a member of the 194th Tank Battalion in the Philippines when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands just hours after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. His remains were identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and accounted for on April 2, 2025.

The Butte man enlisted in March 1941 and was one of thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members captured and interned by the Japanese at POW camps. He was among the estimated 12,000 U.S. troops and 66,000 Filipino soldiers forced on the six-day, 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan Prisoner Camp.

Bordner, a 1937 graduate of Butte High School, was 24 years old when he died in the prisoner camp In October 1942.