HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. military is set to exhume the remains of 88 sailors and Marines who lost their lives during the bombing of the USS Arizona amid the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. These servicemen were buried as unknowns in a cemetery in Honolulu, and this initiative aims to utilize advancements in DNA technology to identify them. The project marks significant progress after 85 years since the tragic event that catalyzed the United States' entry into World War II.
The exhumation process is scheduled to kick off in November or December, as announced by Kelly McKeague, the director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. This operation will involve the careful removal of about eight sets of remains every two to three weeks. The DNA obtained will then be analyzed and compared with samples provided by family members of the missing servicemen.
On December 7, 1941, the bombing of the Hawaii naval base resulted in numerous casualties and significant damage to the fleet. The Arizona, which sank just nine minutes after being bombed, claimed the lives of 1,177 servicemen, nearly half of those killed during the attack. Today, the battleship remains submerged in its final resting place, entombing over 900 sailors and Marines within its hull. Notably, only those buried in the cemetery will be exhumed, while the remains located underwater will remain undisturbed.
Robert Edwin Kline was among the 22-year-old gunner’s mates second class killed on the Arizona. His great-nephew, Kevin Kline, a real estate agent in Virginia, believed for many years that his great-uncle's remains were still on the ship. Only recently did he learn that some crew members had been buried as unknowns in a cemetery. Although Kline does not expect his great-uncle to be identified, he recognizes the importance of closure for families who may receive DNA matches after years of uncertainty and generational grief.
Kline shared a poignant story about a woman who felt an inexplicable sadness during Christmas. She discovered that her grandmother, who lost a son on the Arizona, and her mother, who lost a brother, had never celebrated the holiday since it fell just weeks after the anniversary of his death. This ongoing grief, Kline noted, can have a lingering impact on family members.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, under the Department of Defense, had previously resisted exhuming the remains of the Arizona due to a lack of medical and dental records, as well as DNA samples from families—only 1% of families had been sampled as of 2021. Kline, along with his organization, Operation 85, has dedicated the past three years to tracking down families and facilitating DNA sharing. Remarkably, only about 15 out of 1,500 contacted families declined to participate. As of now, family members of 626 sailors and Marines—just under 60% of the missing crew—have contributed their DNA, with more samples still coming in.
Kline expressed frustration with the military's earlier reluctance but now feels a sense of accomplishment in overcoming those barriers. "I’m happy that we were able to kind of pull this together and turn that hard no,” he stated. The remains will be sent to the agency’s lab at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for thorough analysis, while the DNA samples will be forwarded to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory located at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The decision to proceed with disinterring the Arizona unknowns was initially reported by the independent military newspaper, Stars and Stripes.
