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WASHINGTON, DC – To one man who survived Japan's attack
on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the past is a vista he looks back at with
regret.
Raymond Emory, known as Ray, was a Navy seaman first
class assigned to the USS Honolulu when the Japanese attacked. To
honor his fellow service members who died that December 7, 74 years
ago, Emory has spent the past 20 years walking the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific “day in and day out,” he told DoD News in a
telephone interview.
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Two F-22 Raptors assigned to the Hawaii Air National Guard's 199th Fighter Squadron conduct a flyover during the 66th Mayor's Memorial Day Ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, May 25, 2015.
(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Laurie Dexter)
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Tending to a Sacred Site
The cemetery is set within a gently sloped, almost
perfectly circular natural bowl, the remnant of ancient
volcanic activity and the origin of its unofficial name, the
“Punchbowl.” The crater's Hawaiian name, Puowaina, translates to “Hill of Sacrifice,” and
according to the memorial's official website, the first
known use of the site was as an altar where native Hawaiians
“offered human sacrifices to pagan gods and ... killed
violators of the many taboos.”
In the 1930s, the
crater was used as a rifle range for the Hawaii National
Guard. Toward the end of World War II, tunnels were dug
through the rim of the crater for the placement of shore
batteries to guard Honolulu Harbor and the south edge of
Pearl Harbor.
It wasn't until Jan. 4, 1949 that the
first service member was interred at Punchbowl, and six
months later the cemetery was opened for public visitation.
Emory said he made it a personal mission to correct the
record for his fallen comrades, many of whom weren't able to
be identified at the time they were buried or had misspelled
names inscribed on their grave markers.
“I got so
involved with Punchbowl and the kids who got killed Dec. 7,
that it's taken up the last 20 years of my life,” the former
sailor said.
‘Dignity,
Respect, and Care'
Through a Defense
Department-authorized effort now underway, many of the
unidentified remains of sailors and Marines who died on the
USS Oklahoma, which capsized in the first minutes of the
attack after sustaining several torpedo hits, are now being
analyzed for identification.
According
to an April 14 DoD release, the remains of up to 388
unaccounted-for sailors and Marines associated with the
Oklahoma will be exhumed this year. Upon disinterment, the
remains will be transferred to the Defense POW/MIA
Accounting Agency laboratory in Hawaii for examination.
Analysis of all available evidence, the release stated,
indicates that most Oklahoma crew members can be identified
upon disinterment.
In the release, Deputy Defense
Secretary Bob Work said he and Defense Secretary Ash Carter
will work tirelessly to ensure remains will be recovered,
identified, and returned as expeditiously as possible.
“We will do so with dignity, respect and care,” he said.
“While not all families will receive an individual
identification, we will strive to provide resolution to as
many families as possible.”
The disinterment policy
applies to all unidentified remains from the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and other permanent
American military cemeteries. However, the policy does not
extend to those sailors and Marines lost at sea or to
remains entombed in U.S. Navy vessels serving as national
memorials.
Lasting Memories
of War
Emory said that the death and
destruction at Pearl Harbor is long past, “but there hasn't
been a day in my life that I haven't thought about that
day.”
He said at first he
wondered, “Who declared war on whom first, and where did
they come from to get there so fast?”
He has since
learned more about the facts behind the attack, he said, and
is now pleased with the current identification effort's
progress to date.
A
Deliberate Process, ‘Venerable Heroes'
Air
Force Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan, director of public affairs
for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, said the
disinterment process involves 45 gravesites and 61 caskets
at the cemetery.
“Once they are disinterred
they are accessioned into the laboratory for the
identification process to begin,” she said.
Gravesite
operations are expected to take about six months, Morgan
added, and the identification process can take up to five
years.
She noted that DoD has made great strides in
identifying remains recovered from “commingled” sites.
“For several years, the [Defense Department] has
considered the complexities of [such] a decision,” she
noted. “Recent advances in forensic science and technology,
as well as family member assistance in providing
genealogical information, have now made it possible to make
individual identifications for many service members
long-buried in graves marked ‘unknown.'”
Since 2003,
DoD has contacted families, collected and analyzed DNA from
over 80 percent of applicable USS Oklahoma family members,
and has collected 90 percent of the available medical and
dental records from the ship's crew, she said.
“DoD
remains committed to fulfilling its obligation to achieve
the fullest possible accounting for U.S. personnel lost in
past conflicts,” Morgan said. “This is important to the
families and these venerable heroes to be honored will full
military-honors burials.”
By Karen Parrish
DOD News / Defense Media Activity
Copyright 2015
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