The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on Thursday that US Navy Seaman 2nd Class John C. Auld, 23, of Newcastle, England, killed on the USS Oklahoma, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor of 1941 has been identified.  He was buried last Friday, with full military honors in Fairview Memorial Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

DPAA accounted for his remains on Oct. 15, 2018, but was only recently made aware of Auld’s family receiving their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification were shared.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Auld was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. 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 Auld.  Only 32 crewmembers from the Oklahoma survived.

In the years following the attack, only 35 of the 429 crew who died on Oklahoma were identified. In 2015, the Department of Defense announced that the unidentified remains of the crew members of Oklahoma would be exhumed for DNA analysis, with the goal of returning identified remains to their families.

After a years-long project, the Department of Defense announced last week that all crew members who died on the USS Oklahoma have been accounted for.

To identify Auld’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Although Auld never lived in Albuquerque, he was laid to rest about 100 yards from where his mother, Lillian Auld, and brother, Edwin Auld, are buried.