David Walker, a sailor killed within the WWII assault on Pearl Harbor, is memorialized on the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Soon, a rosette shall be positioned subsequent to his title to point that he has been accounted for.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

David Walker, a sailor killed within the WWII assault on Pearl Harbor, is memorialized on the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Soon, a rosette shall be positioned subsequent to his title to point that he has been accounted for.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

David Walker from Norfolk, Va., was 19 years previous when Japanese torpedoes sunk his battleship at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Walker was presumed lifeless following the assault on the Hawaii naval base, however his physique was by no means recovered — that’s, till not too long ago.

Officials announced on Thursday that Walker’s stays have been lastly accounted for, due to scientists on the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) whose mission is to recuperate and return lacking service members from previous conflicts.

In a information launch, the DPAA stated that in 2018, navy officers exhumed the unidentified stays of 25 individuals who have been from Walker’s battleship, the USS California, and buried in Honolulu. According to the company, scientists used anthropological, dental and DNA evaluation to find out that Walker was amongst these stays.

The DPAA stated Walker shall be buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Sept. 5. A rosette will even be positioned subsequent to his title on the Courts of the Missing on the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu to point that he has been accounted for.

On Dec. 7, 1941, two torpedoes pierced the port facet of the USS California, which was moored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The assault resulted within the deaths of 103 crew members, together with Walker. The ship slowly sank over the following three days, in accordance with the DPAA.

In whole, about 2,300 service members and 68 civilians have been killed in Japan’s shock assault on Pearl Harbor, which later launched the U.S. into World War II. At the time, 960 sailors and marines have been reported lacking, in accordance with a New York Times article from 1942.

In latest years, advances in DNA expertise have considerably helped determine the stays of lacking navy personnel. DNA testing was credited as a key technique within the identification of the vast majority of the practically 400 service members who went lacking on the USS Oklahoma, one other battleship that sunk through the assault on Pearl Harbor.