WASHINGTON (NBC 26) — The remains of three young brothers from New London killed in the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack have now been officially identified.
A news release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said the remains were accounted for on June 10, 2021.
Navy Fireman 1st Class Malcolm J. Barber, age 22, Navy Fireman 1st Class Leroy K. Barber, age 21, and Navy Fireman 2nd Class Randolph H. Barber, age 19, were assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was stationed at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor.
On Dec. 7, 1941, the USS Oklahoma 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 the Barber brothers.
The New London brothers are three of 337 sailors and marines now accounted for as part of the DPAA's USS Oklahoma Identification Project, which began in 2015.
"It's a joint kind of effort with anthropology, dental analysis and DNA analysis," said Carrie LeGarde, USS Oklahoma Identification Project lead and anthropologist.
LeGarde said they started with 13,000 bones as part of the Oklahoma assemblage. She said people had to put together the remains bone by bone.
That's why LeGarde said DNA analysis and testing of the exhumed bones is critical.
"That DNA from the bones is compared to family reference samples from living, biological relatives of the service members that we're trying to identify," LeGarde said.
With the passing of several decades, LeGarde said it can be challenging to find living relatives for the men they're trying to identify. Despite that hurdle, LeGarde said the DNA testing has been successful.
"We've really been putting all of our efforts toward this project and trying to identify as many (people) as possible," LeGarde said.
For some active duty service members, these types of technological advancements are comforting.
"It’s nice to know that if I was deployed in a combat situation, and I went missing and I was not able to necessarily be recovered by my unit immediately, there is an agency, an entire organization, that’s sole purpose is to recover those still missing," said Sean Everette, public affairs spokesperson for the DPAA.
He said it fulfills the phrase, "never leave a man behind."
"If you go missing it is our mission to bring you home to your loved ones," Everette said.
From December 1941 to June 1944, DPAA said Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased USS Oklahoma crew, which was subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
A few years later, the American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time.
The other unidentified remains were buried in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including the Barber brothers.
The DPAA exhumed those unidentified remains for analysis in 2015. USS Oklahoma Identification Project leaders hope to account for as many of the 57 final remains as possible.
The Barber brothers’ names are recorded at the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. The DPAA said a rosette will be placed next to their names to indicate they have been accounted for.
