After over 80 years, the remains of Navy Seaman 2nd Class Stanley C. Galaszewski, who died in the Pearl Harbor attack, have been identified. Galaszewski, originally from Steubenville, Ohio, was killed on December 7, 1941, along with over 100 crewmates, said the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in a news release. His remains were accounted for on May 23, 2022. He served aboard the USS California, one of the first ships hit during the attack, which resulted in its sinking and eventual recovery about a year later.
Remains of Ohio sailor killed during Pearl Harbor identifiedhttps://t.co/uEwaGs6U8P
— Military Times (@MilitaryTimes) October 3, 2023
The attack resulted in thousands of deaths
According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, the surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy eventually sank the battleship, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. This drew the United States into World War II. Officials added in the release, “From December 1941 and April 1942, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.”
39 men were identified
In September 1947, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) dug up the remains from both cemeteries. But at the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks, they could only identify 39 men from the ship. “The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu,” officials wrote, as per People.
“In October 1949, a military board classified the 25 Unknowns who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Galaszewski.” But, the DPAA team in 2018, dug up the remains of 25 unidentified individuals from the Punchbowl cemetery for examination and used DNA and other evidence to establish the identity of Galaszewski in last year May.
Galaszewski will be buried in Steubenville
The remains of Galaszewski will be buried in Steubenville, where he is originally from, on November 3, as per the officials. “Galaszewski’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII,” the release added, as per the outlet. “A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.”