More Than 75 Years Later, Remains of Pearl Harbor Sailors Are Being Returned to Their Homes

When Imperial Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, close to 2400 U.S. military members were killed—hundreds of whom weren't identified before they were laid to rest. Now, 77 years after the attack, the remains of dozens of victims of the attack are being reburied in their home states, AP reports.

The victims were Navy sailors and Marines on the USS Oklahoma, one of the ships that was targeted and capsized. Four-hundred-twenty-nine of the people on board died, but only 35 were identified. The rest were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii as unknowns.

In light of advances in forensic technology, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency exhumed the remains of nearly 400 military members in 2015. With DNA samples from surviving relatives, they were able to identify 186 of the sailors and marines who died in the attack. They come from families living across the U.S., including states like Iowa, Georgia, and Michigan.

The remains of many of the service members have already been reburied closer to their surviving family, and even more are set to be interred this Friday, December 7, the 77th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is also working to identify unknowns from the Solomon Islands, the USS California, and USS West Virginia.