WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. Donald E. Bays, 21, of Hubbard Springs, Virginia, killed during World War II, was accounted for Dec. 20, 2024.
Bays's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In 1941, Bays was assigned to the Tow Target Detachment at Hickam Airfield on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. On. Dec. 7th, Japanese aircraft attacked Oahu; in addition to the ships moored in Pearl Harbor, they bombed and strafed Hickam Field, and damaged or destroyed U.S. aircraft, hangars, barracks, supply buildings, and the base chapel. The attack lasted four hours. Bays was reportedly killed during this time.
In the days following the attack, Navy personnel recovered the remains of U.S. Army and U.S. Army Air Forces casualties, which were subsequently interred in the Schofield Barracks Cemetery.
In August 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel from World War II, members of the American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the Schofield Cemetery and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was unable to confirm the identifications of 12 men from the Hickam Field attack at that time, including “Unknown Case 4,” later redesignated X-4. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. On Dec. 27, 1948, a military board classified Bays as non-recoverable.
In June 2019, DPAA personnel began exhuming the 12 Schofield Barracks Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis. X-4 was disinterred in 2020 and accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory.
To identify Bays’ remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and dental analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.
Bays’ name is recorded in the 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.
Bays will be buried in Lee County, Virginia in May 2025.
For family and funeral information, contact the U.S. Army Casualty office at (800) 892-2490.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa, https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.
Read Bays's initial ID announcement here: Bays.