The remains of a sailor killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, have been positively identified as those of a Georgia man.
Navy Shopfitter 3rd Class John M. Donald, 28, of Ball Ground, Ga., was accounted for on April 11, 2018.
Donald was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, moored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor when it was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The Oklahoma received multiple torpedo hits, causing it to capsize. The attack resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Donald.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the crew of the USS Oklahoma, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu'uanu cemeteries, both on Oahu.
Members of the American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains of US casualties from the two cemeteries in September 1947 and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks.
The staff there was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The additional remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknown persons from the USS Oklahoma.
Scientists used mitochondrial DNA analysis, anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence to determine Donald's identity from the remains.
Out of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. More than 72,000 are still unaccounted for from World War II. Of those, about 26,000 are considered to be "possibly-recoverable," by officials.
Donald's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing monument at the Punchbowl, along with others missing from World War II. A rosette will now be placed next to his name on the monument, indicating he has now been accounted for.
