US to Exhume Remains from Pearl Harbor Attack?

[Footslogger]

How do you feel about this?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-to- ... id=U219DHP

Isn't it a war grave?

[rustysi]

Sounds ok to me. Looks like everything will be done respectfully and that they're just trying to give some families closure.

[dr.hal]

If it brings a sense of closure for even one family, it is a good thing.

[m10bob]

I suspect the original poster is concerned that a national shrine is about to be "desecrated", but he is not considering the family of the poor souls who have been listed as "unknown" all this time.

As a child, my grandmother had a picture of a mustached man in uniform hanging in her living room. My mother explained he was our "Uncle George"..her brother.She further explained his loss during the war was a great mystery because within a matter of weeks, the family had received SEVERAL letters "explaining" his loss/demise/death.
(No two stories were alike).
Since his disappearance in 1943 until a couple of years ago, he was always "Our missing Uncle George" to all of us cousins, in the family.
The army taught me how to find info,intel, etc.,but I was born with a book in my hands and a few years ago, I was reading a book called "After The Fox", (about the American campaign against Rommel soon after Operation Torch.)
Well, the book begins as the author describes an American cemetery in Carthage..He explained a wall at the rear of the cemetery with the names of Americans who perished when a German guided missile struck their troopship..The ship was the RMS Rohna..
I began my research and learned the families of those who perished were never given an honest explanation of how their loved ones perished because "they did not want the Germans to know how effective their guided missile was"..
(Of course since the missile was guided there optically by the German plane that launched it, the Germans already knew how effective it was..)

My curiosity was piqued..I went to the website of American overseas cemeteries and lo and behold, there was my missing uncle..

The wall inscription said Cpl. George H. Sortwell........
My uncle had been trained as an early RADAR operator.
I then learned he and his unit were of the 322nd Fighter Control Squadron, bound for Kowloon via Bombay, but soon after Thanksgiving when they left Casablanca...the ship was hit by that missile.

Some of the unit survived..but they had all been sworn to secrecy..To this day, most of the families still do not know the fate of their loved ones.

I hope they give those men at Pearl a chance to come home.
My Uncle George, then 23 years old, is verified now to be "buried at sea."


http://rohnasurvivors.org/

[Orm]

Thank you for sharing this.

[sven6345789]

Yes, thanks for sharing. Otherwise I have the same opinion as dr. Hal. It can make a big difference if you know your family member as dead ( and know where he is buried). Gives you a better chance for closure than just having your family member listed as missing in action.

[Panther Bait]

From the article, they are planning to exhume remains that were interred at a military cemetery in Honolulu. They were previously considered unidentifiable due to limitations of forensic technology. Now with DNA testing, they have a shot to identify some (at least 60 percent according to the article) if the project goes forward. This all seems ok to me.

It's not like they are digging up the hulk to the Arizona to find remains. That I might have more trouble with.

Mike

[jamesjohns]

If it can help families heal, of course. With the US Military behind it, it will, and should, be done with the deepest respect for the deceased and their families and provide complete military honors at the funeral and during the entire process, goodness knows

[Footslogger]

Here's an Update:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/soldie ... id=U219DHP

R.I.P. Gentlemen

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: m10bob
To this day, most of the families still do not know the fate of their loved ones.

My grandfather was reported KIA at Pearl and his wife took her kids and moved back east to live near her family. It was a year and a half before they learned he had just been severely wounded (ricochet landed near his heart) and was in fact back out fighting the Japanese. My grandfather was wounded again later, but could have easily perished and the story of his actual demise would have never been known.

I wouldn’t be surprised if similar stories don’t emerge here of people thought killed at Pearl that were in fact later killed fighting somewhere else. We are kind of spoiled in modern times with being connected to everyone instantaneously. In 1941 information traveled slowly and accurate information even slower, it was very common for people to simply disappear and their families never found out what happened to them.

Jim

[Anthropoid]

I'll just be bluntly honest: its ~70 years ago. Does anyone really care? Its like an archaeological site at this point, isn't it? If exhuming it makes anyone who is still alive feel the slightest glimmer of positive emotion, and also contributes to science and history then good job I say.

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns
My grandfather was reported KIA at Pearl and his wife took her kids and moved back east to live near her family. It was a year and a half before they learned he had just been severely wounded (ricochet landed near his heart) and was in fact back out fighting the Japanese. My Grandfather was wounded again later, but could have easily perished and the story of his actual demise would have never been known.

I wouldn’t be surprised if similar stories don’t emerge here of people thought killed at Pearl that were in fact later killed fighting somewhere else. We are kind of spoiled in modern times with being connected to everyone instantaneously. In 1941 information traveled slowly and accurate information even slower, it was very common for people to simply disappear and their families never found out what happened to them.

Jim

My SO's grandfather did that during an uprising in Mexico in 1931. The family was well off and a target for the have nots. When trouble started, the family fled to Texas and the father disappeared. One of my SO's cousins found out he moved to Mexico City and had a second family. My SO has 80 first cousins (her mother came from a large family too).

Bill

[witpaemail]

Mixed feelings on this.

On 1 hand, there is no tomb of the unknown soldier for Viet Nam. All remains were IDed. Would it be ok to dig up the graves of the other unknowns in Arlington to ID them? Thats a national shrine, and I feel it would be wrong to do so.

On the other hand, my father was a WWII vet. He served in the 96th division on Leyte and Okinawa. If it were possible for his remains to be among the 388 unIDed from the Oklahoma, I would want to know, and I would want him sent "home" to Ft Snelling cemetery (which is where he and mother are now).