Remains from Pearl Harbor Identified 82 Years Later

 On December 7, 1941 there was an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This attack killed 103 crew members of the U.S.S. California and 25 of those soldiers have been buried as unknown remains. Luckily, due to mitochondrial DNA analysis and Y chromosome DNA analysis some of the unknown remains have been identified within the last few months. The identified soldiers so far are David Walker (19), Stanley Galaszewski (29), Pete Turk (20), and Tceollyar Simmons (18). Similar projects are ongoing for soldiers/ crew members from different ships during the same attack.

In my opinion I think it is amazing that they are still putting in effort to put there names and their families to rest. Although it was 82 years ago, it is still remembered and those that were lost were not forgotten. I think the process of analyzing their mitochondrial DNA from 82 years ago is also very interesting and I am glad that we are using modern technology to aid in what many hoped for many years ago. 

Article Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/29/us/virginia-sailor-pearl-harbor.html?searchResultPosition=1

Additional Link: https://www.npr.org/2024/03/30/1241843461/pearl-harbor-dna-virginia-sailor