Navy Seaman Lost in Pearl Harbor’s USS Oklahoma Disaster Finally Identified

A U.S. Navy seaman who perished during the attack on Pearl Harbor has finally been accounted for after decades, military officials confirmed on Thursday.

Seaman 2nd Class John C. Auld, 23, was originally from Newcastle, England, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s news release. In 1941, Auld was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, a battleship stationed at Pearl Harbor.

On December 7, 1941, Auld was aboard the USS Oklahoma when Japanese pilots launched their devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Oklahoma was struck by multiple torpedoes and capsized just 12 minutes after the first hit, the Department of Defense reported.

Of the 429 crew members aboard, Auld was among those who perished. Only 32 sailors survived, thanks to acts of bravery by fellow service members. The USS Oklahoma had the second-highest death toll that day, following the USS Arizona, which lost over 1,100 lives.

It took three years for Navy personnel to recover the remains of the deceased crew members, which were interred at Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries on Oahu in 1944. By 1947, efforts to identify the remains began.

Over the years, 35 sets of remains were positively identified through disinterments and laboratory analysis. The unidentified remains were then reburied at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, with their names added to the Courts of the Missing at the cemetery.

Between June and November of 2015, scientists exhumed these remains again for further analysis at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s laboratory. Using anthropological studies, DNA testing, and other evidence, they identified Auld’s remains in 2018.

However, the delay in notifying Auld’s family led to the postponement of the formal announcement of his identification until recently.

Earlier this month, the Department of Defense confirmed that the remains of all USS Oklahoma crew members who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor have now been identified. Survivors of Pearl Harbor will mark the 83rd anniversary of the attack on Saturday.

Following Auld’s identification, a symbolic rosette will be placed next to his name at the Courts of the Missing. His final resting place was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was laid to rest on Friday morning, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and a related funeral notice.

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