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News & Stories
News | Sept. 24, 2018

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Gowey, C.)

By DPAA Public Affairs

Navy Fireman 1st Class Claude O. Gowey, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on Aug. 31, 2018.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Gowey was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Gowey.

In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.

Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.

Gowey's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For more information about DPAA, visit www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call 703-699-1420/1169.

Gowey's personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XeLNEA0

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Public Affairs Contact Information


Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency PAO
Washington, D.C.
2300 Defense Pentagon
Attn: Outreach and Communications
Washington, D.C. 20301-2300
Email: dpaa.ncr.oc.mbx.public-affairs@mail.mil