Sailors, Marines killed during Pearl Harbor attack and buried as ‘unknowns’ to be exhumed for identification
United States Flag and Hawaiian Flower Lei Adorn the Grave Site of an Unknown that Died on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor on the USS Arizona at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl, on Memorial Day in Honolulu, Hawaii on the Island of Oa
An effort to confirm the identities of dozens of sailors and Marines killed during the 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, will officially get underway on the 85th anniversary of the Japanese attack that propelled the U.S. into World War II.
The first of 86 sailors and Marines who were buried as "unknowns" will be exhumed on Dec. 7 from the National Memorial of the Pacific in Honolulu, also known as The Punchbowl, the Military Times reported.
Big picture view:
The effort is a partnership between the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, a government agency created to account for the nation’s prisoners of war and missing in action, and Operation 85, a civilian organization created to help identify the remaining servicemen whose identities were never confirmed.
The backstory:
Kevin Kline, who lost his great-uncle, Gunner’s Mate Second Class Robert Edwin Kline on the Arizona, founded the privately-funded Operation 85 in 2023 to complete the identifications, according to the National World War II Museum. Kline and his organization worked to reach out to family members of the servicemen to help collect DNA samples of family members of the unidentified servicemen. They reached the necessary 60% threshold back in April.
What they're saying:
"Reaching this milestone does not conclude the search for additional USS Arizona and associated Pearl Harbor family members who may be able to provide viable DNA Family Reference Samples," the agency said in a statement. "DPAA, Operation 85, and the service casualty offices continue to encourage any family member who may be related to a missing USS Arizona crew member to participate in this ongoing effort.
Kline told the agency back in May that he grew up believing what most believed: that the men killed aboard the USS Arizona were never recovered and remained inside the ship.
"But what I did not know and what most family members did not know was that there were also unknowns associated with the USS Arizona buried at the Punch Bowl," he said. "Men removed from the ship in the aftermath of war, buried without names, and effectively left behind by history. Once I learned that, I could not un-know that."
The DPAA awarded Kline its Superior Public Service Award Medal for his work to get closure for families of those killed during the attack and buried without names.
The Source: Information in this story came from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the National World War II Museum, Operation 85's website and the Military Times. This story was reported from Orlando.