Eighty years ago today, the Japanese bombed the U.S.S. Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor, killing 429 men on the ship. Their remains were buried in 46 common graves, marked as “Unknown” as tools at the time did not allow for identification.
But in 2015, the US Department of Defense established a unit to apply today’s technology to the remains of soldiers and Marines, and to date, they have been able to positively identify 361 bodies (84%). It’s a laborious — and fascinating — multi-faceted process, involving historical artifacts, mitochondria DNA, photographs, dental records, and archeology. The unit’s work brings closure to the next generation of their families and allows those who served to be recognized with military honors and a proper burial. The “Oklahoma Project” is reaching its end, but the agency will continue its work with those killed in other wars, with the goal of having no military “unknowns” in the future.
Previously, I’ve written about a prioritization matrix (dot 2021) that sorts projects by high to low impact on one axis and hard to easy implementation on the other axis. The Oklahoma Project certainly falls into the “hard to implement but high impact” quadrant. Sometimes, it’s worth the effort to do the difficult work that matters. On this Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, pause to appreciate those in the identification labs today and those who were in the Oklahoma on that fateful day for doing the challenging yet important service for our country.
Source: Naming the Unknown by W. J. Hennigan in Time, December 6-13, 2021
Film: Inside the Quest to Name Pearl Harbor’s Unknown Victims (8:04)
