By WYATT OLSON | STARS AND STRIPES Published: April 13, 2021 A family’s decades-long quest to recover the remains of World War II’s first Medal of Honor recipient has bogged down in red tape after hopes of a quick disinterment were raised in January. The family of 1st Lt. Alexander “Sandy” Nininger, who died in battle on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines on Jan. 12, 1942, has for years pressed the Defense Department to exhume an unknown grave in Manila they believe could hold his remains. But Nininger’s 84-year-old nephew and closest next of kin, John Patterson, learned in late March that DPAA had recommended postponing disinterment of the gravesite, known as X-1130, a decision based on another DOD policy.
By WYATT OLSON | STARS AND STRIPES Published: January 12, 2021 The descendants of World War II’s first Medal of Honor recipient are requesting the federal government remove the soldier’s name from all public buildings and installations, a move coming after what they call a decades-long “bureaucratic logjam” in bringing his remains home from the Philippines. First Lt. Alexander “Sandy” Nininger, serving with the 57th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Scouts, died in battle on Jan. 12, 1942, near Abucay on the Bataan peninsula of Luzon Island, during the Japanese invasion. He was given a hasty burial and subsequently became the war’s first service member to receive the Medal of Honor in the early days of the conflict when Imperial Japan invaded and occupied a huge swath of Asia.
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