Final accounting for crew of the USS Oklahoma

 From Valor Guardians

“On 2 December 2021, DPAA announced the final accounting for the crew of the USS Oklahoma, sunk at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. The remaining 33 unknowns from this ship were declared accounted for.

“This personnel accounting was what DPAA referred to as a ‘group accounting’. Although the DPAA article could be more clearly worded, apparently this means that even with modern forensic techniques the remains in question were in such condition – or so little circumstantial and/or reference DNA evidence was available – that they could not be definitively individually identified. It’s also possible that no living family member eligible to provide a DNA sample useful in their identification was available (or came forward) to provide a reference sample.

“An individual accounting for each and every one of these elder brothers-in-arms would have been preferable, and in a perfect world that would have been possible. Sadly, it appears that for these 33 individuals that was simply not feasible given today’s technology.

“These individuals will be re-interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, AKA the ‘Punchbowl’ this coming Tuesday. This coming Tuesday is 7 December 2021 – the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.”

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=120349