On the morning of December 7, 1941, USS Oklahoma lay moored at berth F5 in Battleship Row, Pearl Harbor, outboard of USS Maryland. That lazy Sunday morning began like countless others: the majority of officers and enlisted men were either onboard the ship or in their authorized quarters ashore. Even though Pearl Harbor was considered a relatively safe anchorage, the fleet maintained a ready status. The uneasy world situation required that 25% of shipboard antiaircraft batteries be manned at all times.
Accordingly, the relative calm was interrupted at approximately 7:57 a.m. as the first word of attack was heard. Japanese torpedo bombers, with specifically modified torpedoes to run in shallow waters, swept over Battleship Row. In mere minutes, a minimum of five torpedoes struck the Oklahoma and it capsized, in only slightly more than 12 minutes. Its instant violently explosive death was paralleled only by the traumatic explosion of the USS Arizona.
Oklahoma, commissioned in May of 1916, had just returned from maneuvers and moored on December 5, 1941. The ship was lost from the moment the first torpedo struck: “The port list began immediately, further complicated by additional torpedo strikes.” This resulted in the ship turning over onto its side and trapping hundreds of men inside the hull.
Two days later, frenetic work by local contractors and US Navy salvagers succeeded in rescuing 32 men from the overturned hull. The other 429 crewmen went down with the battleship, their bodies trapped inside the overturned vessel. They included Aviation Machinist’s Mate Second Class Durell Wade, born and raised in Calhoun City, Mississippi, who had been serving aboard the Oklahoma for over four years.
The tragedy of the USS Oklahoma left so many families in limbo, as remains of fallen sailors and Marines were buried in 46 common graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, with only granite headstones that read: UNKNOWN. Brothers Harold and William Trapp were among those presumed killed but never identified.
But over the past six years, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency had been employing improvements in DNA technology to work out who was left among the remains of Oklahoma’s crew. The DPAA has identified 361 of the 394 service members that were listed as unknown up to date. Among these were two Trapp brothers; after identification, they were laid to rest with full military honors in a homecoming ceremony with the big family in attendance.
Identification work began in 2003 with the exhumation of one casket; it contained partial remains of some 95 individuals. The discovery brought home the reality of the long, painstaking research and scientific work that goes into accounting for missing Oklahoma personnel. The remaining caskets were exhumed in 2015, and the remains were transported to DPAA laboratories in Hawaii and Nebraska for analysis.
Forensic scientists used mitochondrial DNA from living relatives as a form of identification. The Trapp brothers’ DNA samples came from their niece, Carol Sowar, and her family. After the DNA matched up, the DPAA used dental and anthropological methods to determine which bones belonged to each brother.
The successful case of the Oklahoma project brought closure not only to the families of those who had fallen but also set a precedent for future exhumation projects. The efforts of the DPAA have shown the promise of DNA technology in identifying unknown service members, a reason to hope for the families who still wait for closure.
As Carol Sowar watched her uncles buried beneath their headstones, she said she felt an overwhelming sense of relief and closure. “I don’t think people understand what it means to have somebody who has been unidentified,” she said. “Unless you go through it personally, you just have no idea what it means to have this closure.”
The story of the USS Oklahoma and its crew is that of enduring spirit by the ones who serve and of the tenacious pursuit to honor their memory. Identification of the unknown Oklahoma victims reminds us of sacrifices and the need to never forget those who gave their lives in service to their country.