Remains of Ohio Sailor Identified 80 Years After Pearl Harbor Attack, Officials Say

The stays of an Ohio sailor who died through the assault on Pearl Harbor have been recognized after over 80 years, officers introduced Monday.

Navy Seaman 2nd Class Stanley C. Galaszewski, 29, of Steubenville, was one of many 104 crewmen on the USS California battleship who died within the Dec. 7, 1941, assault, the Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company mentioned in a information launch.

The moored ship was attacked by a Japanese plane and sustained a number of torpedo and bomb hits, which triggered it to catch fireplace and slowly flood.

In line with Naval Historical past and Heritage Command, the shock assault by the Imperial Japanese Navy killed hundreds of individuals and led to the USA getting concerned in World Conflict II.

“From December 1941 to April 1942, Navy personnel recovered the stays of the deceased crew, which had been subsequently interred within the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries,” officers added within the launch.

After members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the stays from each cemeteries in September 1947, solely 39 males aboard the ship had been in a position to be recognized on the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks.

“The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified stays on the Nationwide Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), referred to as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu,” officers wrote. “In October 1949, a navy board labeled the 25 Unknowns who couldn’t be recognized as non-recoverable, together with Galaszewski.”

Nonetheless, in 2018, DPAA personnel exhumed the stays of 25 unknown casualties from the Punchbowl for evaluation. DNA and different proof had been then used to lastly decide Galaszewski’s id on Might 23, 2022.

Galaszewski’s stays will return to Steubenville, the place he might be buried on Nov. 3, officers shared.

“Galaszewski’s title is recorded on the Partitions of the Lacking on the Punchbowl, together with the others who’re lacking from WWII,” the discharge added. “A rosette might be positioned subsequent to his title to point he has been accounted for.”