Ohio National Guard News

Funeral honors conducted for
missing ONG Soldier who died during World War II

Story by Ohio National Guard Public Affairs
Photos by Sgt. 1st Class Josh Mann, Ohio Army National Guard Historian
Video by 1st Lt. Aaron Smith and Sgt. Andrew Kuhn, Ohio National Guard Public Affairs

Emergency and historic military vehicles lead the funeral procession for Technician 4th Grade John Kovach Jr. July 10, 2017, through Port Clinton, Ohio. Kovach, a member of Company C, 192nd Tank Battalion, Ohio National Guard, died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines in November 1942 following the infamous Bataan Death March. His remains were recently identified and returned to his family in Ohio for burial in his hometown.

Soldiers from the Ohio Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors Team conduct full military honors for Technician 4th Grade John Kovach Jr. during graveside services at Riverview Cemetery in Port Clinton, Ohio.

Maj. Gen. John C. Harris Jr., Ohio assistant adjutant general for Army, presents folded American flags to Ethel Smith (left) and Mary Ocheske during graveside services for their brother, Technician 4th Grade John Kovach Jr.

PORT CLINTON, Ohio (07/10/17) — An Ohio National Guard Soldier missing for more than 75 years was finally laid to rest July 10 in his hometown.

Technician 4th Grade John Kovach Jr., whose remains were recently identified, was honored during a ceremony at Bataan Memorial Elementary School, along with his fellow Soldiers in the 192nd Tank Battalion. Graveside services followed at Riverview Cemetery, with full military honors provided by the Ohio Army National Guard.

Kovach enlisted in the Ohio National Guard on Aug. 8, 1940, in the 37th Tank Company at Port Clinton. The 37th Tank Company was redesignated Sept. 1, 1940, as Company C, 192nd Tank Battalion.

Inducted into federal service on Nov. 25, 1940, Kovach trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, before arriving in the Philippine Islands, on Nov. 20, 1941. He participated in the battles of Luzon and Bataan before being captured. Kovach was among the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan who were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march, known in history as the Bataan Death March, where thousands perished due to the harsh conditions. Kovach died in November 1942 and was buried in a camp cemetery. His remains were moved after the war to a mass grave until 2014, when the U.S. Army exhumed the remains for DNA testing.