Identifying the USS Arizona’s Fallen After 82 Years!, a post from Fishwrap, the newspapers.com blog, grabbed my attention.
As indicated here, the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) disinterred seven caskets containing approximately 55 individuals as part of the Enoura Maru Project. It’s not an isolated occurrence but part of an ongoing effort by the DPAA to disinter, transport, and identify missing POWs from World War II.
The Fishwrap blog post is publicizing Operation 85 , a civilian effort led by family members of the unrecovered from the Pearl Harbour raid to assist DPAA in acquiring DNA samples from living family members. They hope to identify the remains and provide them with a proper burial.
Perhaps like me you were unaware of this US military initiative involving disinterring unknown remains. That is not the policy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which predates the possibility of identification through DNA analysis by decades. In the unlikely possibility that were to ever change, I know of a grave with a good chance it contains the remains of my great uncle, a candidate for identification.
Interesting John. In 2019 I did research at the Hugeunot Library at TNA in Kew, and noticed frequent letters re: my Breillat family from and Amercian descendant. I then researched his own history, and discovered that he had survived the sinking of the Arizona in WWII. Most interesting! Cheers, BT