DNA Unveils Remains Of A Black Teen Sailor Killed During World War II
DNA analysis has revealed the remains of a 19-year-old sailor who was killed during World War II. Officials shared the findings on April 4, saying the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used anthropological and dental analysis, as well as mitochondrial DNA, to identify the remains of Virginian sailor David Walker. The Norfolk, Virginia native, who was assigned to the battleship USS California while serving as a Mess Attendant 3rd Class, was one of 103 crewmen who were killed when Japan attacked the Hawaii naval base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
“In the early minutes of the attack, the California was hit by two torpedoes, which pierced the ship’s port side, and a bomb, which struck the ship’s upper deck,” the Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency said in a statement. “The ship sustained significant damage, and over one hundred sailor and Marine lives were lost in the attack.”
The ship was recovered months later and the bodies were removed. Walker’s body, which was buried in Hawaii cemeteries, was exhumed in 2018. The bodies of 24 other crew members who were labeled as unknowns were also exhumed at that time, CNN reported.
Walker left school early to enlist in the US Navy. When he died a year later, Walker’s mother placed his photo in the newspaper, hoping to find her son. Eighty years after his death, Walker will now be honored with a rosette at the Walls of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. He will be buried in September at Arlington National Cemetery.
“Walker’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII,” the Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency said in the same statement. “A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.”
Over 2,000 service members and about 68 civilians were killed during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, according to NPR. About 960 sailors and marines were reported missing at that time. Scientists are continuing to use DNA to identify the remains of other military members who have been killed in separate attacks throughout history.
Recently, researchers used DNA to identify the remains of 400 service members who went missing when the USS Oklahoma sunk during the Pearl Harbor attack.
