Audiences were frequently moved to tears when John H. McCloskey Jr. sang in what is often described as a true, clear Irish tenor voice. As a B-25 bomber pilot in World War II, he used that voice to sing to soldiers who, like him, were prisoners of war in a Japanese prison camp.

Many years after the war ended, he ran into a man at a POW reunion who told him: "You don't remember me, but I remember you. Your singing helped to pass the time and you gave us hope."

That anecdote and many others were included in a WQED "On Q Magazine" segment titled "A Pilot's Story." First aired in 2004, the program has been re-run many times because "it is one of our most popular segments. It was one of the best stories I have ever worked on and John McCloskey was one of the finest men I ever met," said David Solomon, who wrote and produced it.

Mr. McCloskey, 83, died Sunday of kidney failure at his Ross home.

He was the chief executive officer of W.E. Brosuis Co., an industrial products and supplies company in Bridgeville, until his retirement in 1998.

A native of Bellevue, Mr. McCloskey enlisted in the Army Air Forces after high school. He was sent to Lafayette, La., for training, where he met Annabell Thompson, the woman who, after the war, would become his wife and the mother of his children.

He was a B-25 bomber pilot and rose to the rank of captain. On May 20, 1944, while flying his 53rd mission, he was shot down over Burma.

Mr. McCloskey was a humble man, and never talked much about his military service "until his later years," said Paul Vey, his son-in-law. But he supplied more details when sought out and interviewed for the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center and "On Q Magazine."

For 11 months and 10 days, in Rangoon, Burma, Mr. McCloskey lived in a small bamboo cage. He told his family he sang songs because there was little else he could do.

"In spite of beatings he sang 'Silent Night' on Christmas Eve," Vey said. One song he frequently sang to the POWs was "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."

One of his duties, he told Solomon, was to prepare for burial the bodies of POWs who died in the camp.

Meanwhile, back in the States, no one knew that Mr. McCloskey was a prisoner. His parents feared he was dead, Vey said. So did the young woman he had met in Louisiana "but she waited for him. It is quite a story."

For his service Mr. McCloskey was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart.

He never sought attention and he never expected the huge response generated by "A Pilot's Story," Solomon said. The segment won a Golden Quill Award and was nominated for an Emmy.

But the tribute that touched Mr. McCloskey, Solomon said, was a handmade drawing from a little girl in his neighborhood. It said, "Thank you for serving our country," and was signed by every person in his neighborhood.

WQED yesterday scheduled three showings of "A Pilot's Story" as a special memorial tribute to Mr. McCloskey, said Solomon, who is supervising producer of WQED's "On Q Magazine." It will air tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. and again at midnight, and Friday at 12:30 p.m.

Annabell Thompson McCloskey died in 1989. In 1991, he married Dina Marino, who survives him.

Other survivors include two daughters, Stacie Finch of Fort Myers, Fla., and Mary Vey of Fox Chapel; one son, Tim McCloskey of Upper St. Clair; two stepdaughters, Joanne Casey of Ross and Rachel Kaufman of Mt. Lebanon; a stepson, John Loverti of Franklin Park; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A Mass will be celebrated today at 10 a.m. in St. Teresa of Avila Church, Ross.

T.B. Devlin Funeral Home is handling arrangements.