Sailor John Donald who died at Pearl Harbor ID’d by DNA test

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A Georgia sailor will be laid to rest Thursday, more than 82 years after he was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Shipfitter 3rd Class John Donald was one of 429 sailors lost on the USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. The station reported that the 28-year-old, from Marietta, was identified on April 11, 2018.

The attack claimed the lives of 2,403 US personnel and destroyed or damaged 19 US Navy ships.

While most of the sailors lost were marked as unidentified and laid in caskets, the USS Oklahoma Project of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency worked with genealogists to track down relatives of those killed on the USS Oklahoma.

The process began in 2003, with the disinterment of a casket of the “unknown” remains of the USS Oklahoma. Upon examination, the coffin was found to contain the partial remains of nearly 100 individuals.

The project collectively accounted for all personnel lost at Pearl Harbor and was able to individually identify all but 334 of the remains. There was a ceremony for those families in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 2021.

Genealogy testing identified Donald’s body as one of the 429 sailors reported missing from the USS Oklahoma.

“This is a mission that never stops. And we are thrilled whenever there is an identity like ours for this family. And at the end of the process, we hope the family gets the closure they’re looking for and it’s handled in a dignified way,” said Lt. Commander Jory Morr, who served as POW/MIA Branch Head, at the station. .

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