Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Mar 6: The United States military plans to exhume the remains of 88 sailors and Marines killed aboard the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, in an effort to identify those who were buried as unknowns.
The disinterment will take place at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, with the process expected to begin in November or December, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
Officials said around eight sets of remains will be exhumed every two to three weeks. The recovered remains will undergo DNA testing and will be compared with samples provided by family members of the missing servicemen.
The move is part of a broader initiative to use advances in DNA technology to identify those who could not be named after the attack on December 7, 1941, which drew the United States into World War II.
The USS Arizona sank within nine minutes after being bombed during the attack on the Hawaii naval base. A total of 1,177 sailors and Marines were killed on the battleship, accounting for nearly half of the American servicemen who died during the assault.
Today, the wreck of the USS Arizona still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, where more than 900 sailors and Marines remain entombed inside the ship. Authorities clarified that the underwater remains will not be disturbed, and only those buried as unknowns in the cemetery will be exhumed.
The DPAA had earlier resisted exhuming the remains, citing limited DNA samples and medical records for many of the victims. However, recent efforts by families and advocacy groups have significantly increased participation.
Kevin Kline, founder of the organisation Operation 85, has spent the past three years locating families of the missing servicemen and encouraging them to submit DNA samples. According to him, relatives of 626 sailors and Marines—nearly 60 per cent of those still unaccounted for—have already provided DNA.
The remains will be transported to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for examination, while DNA samples will be analysed at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Families of the victims hope the effort will finally bring closure to decades of uncertainty and grief associated with the historic attack.