Decades after the death of a United States Navy sailor killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor, no action has been taken, military officials said Thursday.
The man, U.S. Navy Sailor 2nd Class John C. Auld, 23, was from Newcastle, England, according to a news release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. he was assigned uss oklahomaA battleship docked at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Auld was aboard the ship when Japanese pilots attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7. During the attack, USS Oklahoma took several torpedo hits and capsized only 12 minutes after the first hit. According to the Department of DefenseFour hundred thirty-nine crew members, including Auld, died. Only 32 crew members survived due to what the Department of Defense called “acts of bravery” by other service members. This was the highest death toll from any ship that day, except for the USS Arizona, which killed more than 1,100 sailors.
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It took three years for Navy personnel to recover the crew's remains. In 1944 the remains were buried at Oahu's Halawa and Nu'anu Cemeteries, and in 1947, military officials began working to identify the remains. The remains were disintegrated and transferred to a laboratory, where 35 sets of remains were identified.
The unidentified remains were reburied in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. The names of those who could not be identified were registered in the missing persons courts at the cemetery.
Between June and November 2015, those remains were exhumed and analyzed in DPAA's laboratory. Scientists used anthropological analysis, DNA analysis, and circumstantial and physical evidence to make the identification. In 2018, Auld's remains were identified. However, it was not until recently that the DPAA was made aware that Auld's family had been informed of his identity, causing the announcement to be delayed.
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Department of Defense Announced earlier this month The remains of all crew members who died aboard the USS Oklahoma have been identified. Pearl Harbor survivors will mark the 83rd anniversary of the attack on Saturday.
Now that Auld has been identified, a rosette will be placed next to his name in the Court of the Missing. He was buried Friday morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to the DPAA and the Funeral information shared online,