The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced recently four U.S. Navy sailors killed during World War II had been accounted for.
The sailors were killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The DPAA announced Navy Lt. Cmdr. Hugh R. Alexander, 43, of Potters Mills, Pennsylvania; Navy Fire Controlman 1st Class Hubert P. Clement, 30; Navy Seaman 1st Class Wilbur F. Newton, 29; and Navy Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Edward L. Conway, 29, had been accounted for.
On Dec. 7, 1941, the four sailors were assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen.
Alexander was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions in saving the lives of several fellow crew members.
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, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. 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 USS Oklahoma at that time.
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The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Alexander.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Alexander’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.
Alexander’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Alexander will be buried in San Diego. The date has yet to be determined for Alexander and the other three sailors.
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