Sergeant Elzie Elworth Anness, 21, of Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky, died on 27 January 1943 at Camp Tanagawa, Osaka, Japan of dysentery while a prisoner of war.

Annes joined the Kentucky National Guard’s Company D, 192nd Tank Battalion in Harrodsburg prior to the unit’s activation in November 1940. He was transferred to Headquarters Company, 192nd Light Tank Battalion while on active duty. His uncle, Staff Sergeant Joe R. Anness Jr., also a prisoner of war, survived and returned home.

Elzie Anness was taken prisoner on 9 April 1942 and was on the Bataan Death March. He was held at Camp O'Donnell, Cabanatuan and at Las Pinas where POWs built runways with picks and shovels. He was sent to Japan aboard the Hell Ship Nagato Maru and he was sent to Tanagawa Camp, Osaka, Japan and worked building a dry dock. Anness was aboard the ship from 7 November 1942 until it arrived in Moji, Japan on 24 November 1942. He died on 27 January 1943 at Camp Tanagawa, Osaka, Japan of dysentery.

There is a in memory of headstone for him in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Harrodsburg, KY.