Woody Taylor Owen

First Lieutenant Woody Taylor Owen, 26, of Elgin, TX, WWII POW, was Killed in Action, on January 9, 1945, in Takao, Formosa.  

Born May 10, 1919 in Elgin, TX to Giles Owen and Mary Alice Owen. He was the middle son, his oldest brother Giles Owen Jr. and youngest Frank Ray Owen. He was 7 when his father died in September 1926. Mary Alice remarried to Calvin Hayes when Woody was 11.  Mary Alice had three daughters, Rebecca Morris, Nelda J. Spates and Joan Collins.  Woody joined the US Army Air Corps in February 1941, he was assigned to the 16th Bombardment Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group which was deployed to the Philippines in October 1941.  Woody was captured by the Japanese in April 1942 after U.S. and Filipino forces surrendered on the Bataan Peninsula. He was part of a group being moved to Japan via land and sea transports. Reports indicate  that Woody was in the forward hold of the Japanese freighter Enoura Maru when it made port at Takao, Formosa (now Tiawan).  U.S. bombers targeted the freighters in the harbor, with the Enoura Maru taking a direct hit to the forward hold. His remains were buried on the beach in a mass grave, which was exhumed after the war ended. Due to the remains being unidentifiable, they were placed in graves marked Unknown.  Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and several other groups in the Armed Forces are involved in a collective project to identify, with modern technology, the remains of the Unknowns. June 30, 2025, there was a positive match, 1st Lt. Woody Owen has been identified. 

He will be laid to rest with Full Military Honors at Elgin Cemetery, Saturday, November 22nd at 2:00 PM.