The remains of nearly 400 unidentified American servicemen killed at Pearl Harbor will be exhumed, identified, and given individual burials, the US government has announced.
The bodies are those of US marines and navy personnel who were aboard the ship USS Oklahoma when it was sunk during the surprise Japanese strike on the naval base in 1941.
The destruction of the USS Oklahoma came quickly. On Dec. 7, 1941, it was hit with numerous torpedoes and bombs during Japan’s fierce and shocking bombardment of Pearl Harbor, capsizing within minutes with hundreds of Marines and sailors inside. Some 429 service members were killed, and others survived to fight back from the nearby USS Maryland, which also was under attack.
More than 70 years later, the USS Oklahoma remained at the center of a battle. On one side was the Navy, which last year told the families of some of those killed that it was flatly against DNA testing on the commingled remains of 330 unidentified service members. On the other side were families that wanted to know when the military would return the remains of their loved ones.
The Pentagon has now decided to exhume unidentified remains held at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, do DNA testing, and return any identified remains to families that want them. Some families could decide to keep their loved ones at the national cemetery in Hawaii, but in individual plots with their own marker.
Officials will use forensic analysis and DNA testing to try and identify the bodies, which were buried in coffins marked ‘unknown’.
Advances in technology are said to have made the process of identification significantly easier despite the passage of time.
“While not all families will receive an individual identification, we will strive to provide resolution to as many families as possible,” Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert Work said in a statement.
Friday 17 April 2015
http://www.forensicmag.com/news/2015/04/uss-oklahoma-remains-be-exhumed-commingled-dna-examined
http://news.usni.org/2015/04/16/under-new-policy-for-identifying-servicemen-pentagon-will-exhume-uss-oklahoma-sailors-marines
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/four-hundred-unidentified-pearl-harbor-dead-to-be-exhumed-and-identified-us-officials-announce-10177433.html
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