Officials Identify Remains Of San Leandro Sailor Killed During Pearl Harbor Attack
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- More than 80 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the remains of a sailor from San Leandro have been positively identified by forensic experts among those who lost their lives aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Wednesday that fate of 29-year-old Navy Seaman 1st Class Wilbur F. Newton has finally been confirmed.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Newton was aboard the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft.
The Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen including Newton.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu'uanu cemeteries.
In September 1947, members of the American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains of the casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks.
The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the Oklahoma at that time. The agency subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the Oklahoma sailors remains for analysis.
To identify Newton's remains, scientists used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
Newton remains were returned to his family and will be buried May 28, 2022, in Mound City, Missouri.