Recovered at Pearl Harbor After 71 Years

COMMUNITY NEWS

Recovered at Pearl Harbor After 71 Years

Editor’s note: Petty Officer Garcia was accounted for in May, but his family only recently received a full briefing, which is why this information was released.

•••

On Aug. 17, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that Navy Shipfitter 2nd Class Claude R. Garcia, 25, of Ventura, killed during World War II, was accounted for on May 12, 2022.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Garcia was assigned to the battleship USS West Virginia, moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft.

The USS West Virginia sustained multiple torpedo hits, but timely counter-flooding measures taken by the crew prevented it from capsizing, and it came to rest on the shallow harbor floor. The attack resulted in the deaths of 106 crewmen, including Garcia.

During efforts to salvage the USS West Virginia, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crewmen, representing at least 66 individuals. Those who

Claude R. Garcia could not be identified, including Garcia, were interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

From June through October 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in cooperation with cemetery officials, disinterred 35 caskets reported to be associated with the USS West Virginia from the Punchbowl and transferred the remains to its laboratory.

To identify Garcia’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Garcia’s name is recorded in the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Garcia will be buried in his hometown. n

•••

For more information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit www.dpaa.mil.