Remains of sailor killed at Pearl Harbor identified

LOVELAND, Colo. — The remains of a sailor killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 have been identified as a 23-year-old Colorado man.

The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports that the U.S. Defense Department says Baker 2nd Class David L. Kesler, of Berthoud, was on board the battleship Oklahoma when it was hit by multiple torpedoes and capsized on Dec. 7, 1941.

Kesler was among 429 crewmen on the ship who died in the attack.

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In 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa to Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation; however, almost half of the known casualties were never found.

To identify Kesler’s remains, agency scientists used DNA and anthropological analysis as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

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