JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii –
Members of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) worked alongside caretakers of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) to disinter the first eight caskets of unknown service members associated with the West Loch Disaster at the NMCP, Oct. 7, 2024.
The attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, is well known, but few know about Pearl Harbor’s second tragedy and one of the greatest non-combat tragedies in U.S. history: the West Loch Disaster.
On May 21, 1944, hundreds of service members were wounded, with 132 confirmed service members killed or wounded while loading ammunition and fuel onto ships at the West Loch peninsula of Pearl Harbor. This year marked the 80th anniversary of the disaster, but those service members have not been forgotten.
“It is my honor to be here on this momentous occasion and to witness the first disinterment ceremony for such a tragic event that has been long overdue,” said John M. Figuerres, DPAA acting deputy director for operations. “As an agency, we are fully committed to providing the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation, and the West Loch Project is a positive step forward in that direction.”
DPAA continues its mission to ensure all missing personnel from past conflicts are accounted for, and this disinterment is critical to making larger strides in their identification process. DPAA is working with NMCP to disinter West Loch Disaster unknowns with honors and transfer them with a dignified ceremony en route to a DPAA laboratory for processing in hopes of identifying each unknown in the West Loch Project.
“Following the incident, those who died but could not be successfully identified at the time were buried at the NMCP as unknowns,” said Dr. Janet Finlayson, DPAA West Loch Project lead. “To justify the disinterment of remains for identification purposes, we have to prove that we have a decent probability to identify those individuals using our existing technology and science. The West Loch Project is responsible for identifying remains associated with the West Loch Disaster. There are six planned disinterments through the rest of this calendar year for the project, which will disinter all of the unknowns currently associated with the West Loch incident that are interred at the NMCP.”
As more than half of the soldiers still unaccounted for from the disaster were African Americans from the 29th Chemical Decontamination Unit, attending the disinterment were members of the Obama Hawaiian African American Museum (OHAAM), such as Dolores Guttman, OHAAM president and the museum director, and retired Navy Vice Adm. Adam M. Robinson, an OHAAM board member, among other members and associates. The museum has taken on this historic tragedy as one of its four main pillars for research and education and hosts an annual West Loch remembrance ceremony at the NMCP. As such, DPAA has coordinated research sharing with OHAAM and has an emerging partnership to engage with African American families in an attempt to collect additional DNA family reference samples to support identification of West Loch remains, as well as potentially more DPAA identification efforts.
“It’s important that we have information about each individual to which we can compare the remains; this includes wartime records, but the largest obstacle is obtaining DNA family reference samples,” said Dr. Finlayson. “While we also use a mix of historical, anthropological, and dental analyses to work toward identification, DNA is the driving force. Even if we are successful in getting DNA from the remains, it does not help progress the case if we do not have a family reference sample to compare to. With 73% of the unresolved casualties represented by a DNA family reference sample, we are finally able to disinter the West Loch unknowns because we now have the means to identify most of those individuals.”
Guttman learned of the incident in 2009 after she attended her first remembrance ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Now, she and the museum have provided information and insight to DPAA on the incident and outreach to families. Guttman shared it was an emotional moment for her and her team.
“It is overwhelming,” said Guttman. “... Eighty years ago. I can’t imagine not knowing where my family member went. And these families, these men, they never heard from them. And they died. And they never knew what happened to their loved ones, their dads, their brothers, their uncles, and so forth. I’m hoping that this, what we’re doing today, will be able to bring hope to families, and that the ancestors that are left of these men will find peace. That is the beginning part of peacemaking, in our chaos today. If we could bring a little harmony, a little bit of Hawaii spirit, aloha, you know, our kuleana (Hawaiian for responsibility), I think the world will be a little bit better.”
OHAAM, the families of the missing, and DPAA will always remember those who died tragically the day of the disaster and will continue to search for answers until each one is accounted for and their families and the nation receive closure.
“After eighty years since the West Loch disaster, we now have the ability to see if we can put names and faces to the sailors and soldiers who were killed, and with that in mind, it is wonderful that this has arrived. It’s late, but at least it is coming now,” said Robinson. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we also must make sure that we remember, that we pay homage and tribute and value those who have given their lives for our country. These men did that. And they are to be respected and honored as they are being today.”
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.