Unidentified sailor killed in Pearl Harbor attack finally has a name, agency says
A 25-year-old, unidentified sailor was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II and we now know his name, an agency said.
He was one of 429 crewmen who died when Japanese aircraft hit the USS Oklahoma with several torpedoes at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
The sailor has been identified as Stanley W. Allen, of Brunswick, Maine, the accounting agency announced in a May 24 news release. He was officially accounted for on June 14, 2021.
Now, more than 80 years later, Allen will finally be buried in his home state at a funeral in Augusta on July 18, according to the release.
His family was recently informed of his identification, WGME-TV reported.
How he was identified
The USS Oklahoma capsized as a result of the Japanese military’s torpedo attacks.
Afterward, U.S. Navy personnel worked to recover the remains of those who died, including Allen, from December 1941 to June 1944, according to the release.
The remains were placed in graves at Halawa and Nu’uanu cemeteries in Hawaii before they were transferred to an identification laboratory in September 1947, the agency said.
At the time, only 35 men who died while stationed on the battleship could be positively identified, according to the agency.
Those unidentified, including Allen, were buried at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also called the Punchbowl, in Honolulu before they were designated as “non-recoverable” in October 1949, the agency said.
Allen’s remains, along with his fellow fallen and unidentified crewmen, were exhumed between June and November 2015 for further analysis, according to the agency.
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as DNA technology, to identify Allen, the agency said.
He is survived by a first cousin who lives in Harpswell, the Times Record reported.
Allen had dreams of working in the hotel restaurant industry before his death, according to the newspaper’s obituary.
A total 2,403 U.S. personnel died during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.
The USS Oklahoma was one of three U.S. ships decimated out of 19 total U.S. Navy ships damaged, according to the Bureau.
Allen’s hometown of Brunswick is about 35 miles south of Augusta.
This story was originally published May 25, 2023 at 10:26 AM with the headline "Unidentified sailor killed in Pearl Harbor attack finally has a name, agency says."
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