82 years after his death in a Philippines prisoner of war camp, Southeast Nebraska native Erwin Schopp will be laid to rest alongside his family in his hometown of Plymouth on Friday, July 18.

Born in Milford in 1912 and raised in Plymouth, Schopp died on January 1, 1943, as a prisoner of war at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija in the Philippines at the age of 30. 

Known as Bud to his family, Schopp got his first taste of service when he joined the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1935. Alongside two other young men from Plymouth, he enlisted in the Coast Artillery in January 1941. The three men were stationed on Corregidor Island in the Philippines when it was captured and overtaken by Japanese forces in May 1942. Pvt. Schopp was reported captured, and was forcibly sent to the Cabanatuan Prison Camp, which, at its peak, served as a holding pen for upwards of 8,000 American and Filipino service members.

"Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery," according to Schopp's obituary. "Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves often completed without records or markers. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan."

Prison records indicated Schopp was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 822, but there had never been any official confirmation of his body's final whereabouts - until now. 

"Through the work of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of Private Erwin H. Schopp were accounted for in 2025. His name is permanently inscribed on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines," according to Schopp's obituary.

Now, 82 years after his death in the Philippines, Pvt. Schopp's remains are coming home to Plymouth.

Funeral Services with full military honors will be held at 10:30 A.M. on Friday, July 18, 2025, at the Plymouth Community Center of Plymouth with Pastor Suzanne How officiating. Burial will follow at the Woodlawn Cemetery of Plymouth with honors being conducted by the Nebraska Army National Guard Honor Guard and Schopp-Ewing-Nispel Post #243 American Legion Post of Plymouth. The public is invited to attend.