Subscribe
Mourners attend the funeral service for U.S. Navy Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Herman Schmidt in Section 70 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., Feb. 23, 2023. Schmidt 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 a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) News 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 Schmidt.
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 Schmidt.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Schmidt’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
Schmidt was officially accounted for on Jan. 13, 2021. Gary Bishop, Schmidt’s grandnephew, received the flag from his funeral service. The flag would later be presented to Schmidt’s son, Michael Schmidt, who could not attend the service.
(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)
| Date Taken: | 02.23.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 02.24.2023 09:31 |
| Photo ID: | 7647936 |
| VIRIN: | 230223-A-IW468-770 |
| Resolution: | 5568x3712 |
| Size: | 9.2 MB |
| Location: | ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 11 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Military Funeral Honors Were Held for U.S. Navy Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Herman Schmidt in Section 70 [Image 32 of 32], by Elizabeth Fraser, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
