Almost 150 Victims of Pearl Harbor Attack May Soon Be Identified After Significant Progress Made

Milestone Reached in Identifying Pearl Harbor Service Members

Researchers are on the verge of releasing the identities of 141 unidentified service members who died in the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack by Japan, following a significant breakthrough.

The Defense Prisoner of War and MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that families of crew members from the USS Arizona have provided enough genetic reference samples to meet the necessary collection standard of 60%. This requirement, per Army policy, is essential before the agency can begin exhuming remains for identification.

The unidentified remains are currently interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu—88 are linked to the USS Arizona, while another 52 lack confirmed ties to the vessel. DPAA plans to start excavating the remains in the coming months, aiming to work on eight cases every two to three weeks, as stated by Director Kelly McKeague.

Reaching the sampling milestone involved gathering a total of 643 samples, as reported by Stars and Stripes, and this progress is attributed primarily to one civilian initiative.

Kevin Klein, a Virginia real estate agent and grandnephew of Gunner 2nd Class Robert Klein, founded Operation 85 in 2023. He and his team invested around $75,000—mostly from personal funds—to locate most of the families necessary for the DNA sampling. This effort followed a Navy report in 2022 revealing that only 25 missing persons had associated family reference samples, projecting a timeline that could extend a decade to complete the sampling for the others.

Previously, McKeague had expressed doubts about the feasibility of online identification in 2021. He was not alone in this sentiment; Rear Admiral Darius Banerjee of the DPAA noted a similar reluctance from the Navy to take action. The Pentagon has since authorized the disbandment of groups of unidentified individuals when at least 60% can be expected to be identified.

“Why can’t we all be proud?” Klein remarked, indicating that despite achieving this important milestone, there are still hundreds of families yet to be discovered and reunited with their loved ones.