English: Service members from the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard, the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Band, and the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (the Old Guard) Caisson Platoon conduct military funeral honors with funeral escort for U.S. Navy Chief Pharmacist’s Mate James T. Cheshire in Section 62 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., July 22, 2022. Cheshire died on Dec. 7, 1941 when the battleship he was assigned to, the USS Oklahoma at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, was attacked by Japanese aircraft.

From the Defense POW/MIA Account Agency (DPAA) press release:

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 Cheshire.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) 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 AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Cheshire.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the Punchbowl for analysis.

To identify Cheshire’s re mains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.

DPAA accounted for Cheshire on Sept. 10, 2018. Mary Hill, Cheshire’s granddaughter, received the U.S. flag from his funeral service.

(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)