VVA CA State Council

MIA Update: The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has announced one burial update and the identification of remains of four sailors who had been unaccounted for since Dec. 7, 1941, when the battleship USS Oklahoma suffered multiple torpedo hits as it was moored off Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack capsized the ship, resulting in 429 casualties. Thirty-five sailors would be subsequently recovered and identified; the rest would eventually be buried as unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, better known as the Punchbowl. Being returned home for burial with full military honors on a date and location yet to be determined are Ensign Joseph P. Hittorff Jr., 25, of Westmont, N.J.; Chief Storekeeper Herbert J. Hoard; Fire Controlman 1st Class Paul A. Nash, 26, of Indiana; and Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Alfred F. Wells.
-- Army Cpl. Dudley L. Evans, 24, will be buried with full military honors on April 23 in his hometown of Greenville, Miss. He was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, engaged in a battle in the vicinity of Chipyong-ni, South Korea. It would be later learned he died in captivity after being taken prisoner on Feb. 15, 1951.