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Dawn Silsbee and her siblings never knew their Uncle Bert — he died years before they were born. But they saw what his loss did to their family.
"Our grandmother openly wept, every year — every Dec 7," the North Carolina woman said. "And I think part of it was because she really didn't know where Bert was."
Bert Jacobson's family has always known the details of his death: That he went down on the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But his remains — and those of more than 400 other sailors and Marines who died on the battleship that day — were never identified, but were instead commingled in a dormant volcanic crater a few miles from Pearl.
Now, nearly three-quarters of a century after that day of "infamy," their families might soon get the closure Bert Jacobson's mother was denied.
Last month, the Department of Defense announced plans to exhume the Oklahoma remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, commonly known as the Punchbowl. Work is expected to begin in a few weeks, after the state health department issues the permits.
"We now have the ability to forensically test these remains and produce the identifications," says Debra Prince Zinni, a forensic anthropologist and laboratory manager at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Hawaii. "They just did not have the same capabilities back in the '40s when these remains were recovered."
Past attempts to identify casualties of the Dec 7, 1941, attack have ended in failure. And this renewed effort has spawned a debate over how best to honor their sacrifice and, in effect, whether these men belong to the families or to the nation.
In a way, Silsbee and her siblings — Bradley McDonald and Colleen Williams — owe their Uncle Bert everything.
During boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Jacobson became fast friends with O.C. McDonald, an orphan from South Dakota. During a visit to Bert's home in Grayslake, Illinois, "Mac" fell in love with Jacobson's sister, Norma.
"If he hadn't brought my dad home to meet his sister, my mother, we — the three of us — would not be here," Williams said as she balanced in her lap a scrapbook dedicated to Bert and her father.
At Navy tech school, Jacobson and McDonald formed one half of a group of buddies that called themselves "The Four Musketeers." The others were Henry Ford II, grandson of the car magnate, and Chet Jankowski.
When training was through and assignments were handed out, Jacobson and Jankowski couldn't believe their luck — and couldn't wait to rub it in.
"They came up waving their orders in their hand and waving them in the face of my father saying, 'We got paradise. We're going to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii,'" says Brad McDonald. "And my dad was stuck with a set of orders for the North Atlantic during the winter, which wasn't too nice."
Jacobson and Jankowski ended up on the USS Oklahoma, a Nevada-class battleship commissioned in 1916.
The Japanese attacked on a Sunday. According to shipmates the siblings met at a USS Oklahoma reunion, Jacobson had spent the hours before the attack helping ferry men to shore for liberty. He'd been up all night and had likely just turned in when the Japanese planes struck.
"Poor Bert died before he knew there was a war going on," says McDonald.
When the first torpedo hit, Harold Johnson, who worked in the powder handling room for No. 4 turret, was four levels down, preparing to go ashore for a date with a local woman.
"I'd just got out of the shower and was in my skivvies and I was shining my shoes," he says, when suddenly an alarm went off. "Everybody growled," thinking it was a drill on a Sunday — until the division officer's voice came booming over the horn.
"It's the real thing," he shouted.
As he rushed to his battle station, Johnson could feel the ship begin to list. He got up the ladder and out the hatch just as the sea began rushing in.
The following day, several of Johnson's gun crew were cut out by rescue workers. Other survivors' tapping on the hull could be heard for more than two weeks, but they could not be reached.
The Oklahoma was hit by at least nine torpedoes. A total of 429 men on the ship that day lost their lives.
Engineers didn't refloat the battleship until November 1943. Remains recovered during the salvage operation were initially interred as unknowns at two nearby cemeteries.
The Oklahoma graves were reopened in 1947, and dental comparisons conducted on the remains. But after proposed identifications for 27 of the unknowns were disapproved, all the remains were re-interred at the Punchbowl.
Soaked in oil and exposed to the elements for two years, the remains were bundled in military blankets and placed into caskets. Many gravesites have multiple sets of remains in them, a typical stone reading: "12 Unknowns, USS Oklahoma, Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941."
In 2003, about 100 sets of Oklahoma remains were dug up as part of another identification effort, but it was unsuccessful. In a letter to families last year, the Department of the Navy signaled its opposition to any further exhumations.
"The sailors and Marines of USS Oklahoma would be outside the sanctity of the grave for a third time following their heroic sacrifice at Pearl Harbor," wrote Russell Beland, deputy assistant secretary for military manpower and personnel.
Last month, however, the Department of Defense pulled rank and said the dis-interments would proceed.
"The secretary of defense and I will work tirelessly to ensure your loved one's remains will be recovered, identified, and returned to you as expeditiously as possible, and we will do so with dignity, respect and care," Deputy Secretary Bob Work told relatives.
With dental and medical records, genetic material from relatives, and modern techniques and equipment, the government lab "is prepared to begin this solemn undertaking," said Rear Adm. Mike Franken, the agency's acting director.
Over the next several months, workers will open 45 graves containing a total of 61 caskets. The agency says the forensics could take up to five years, with a success rate of 80 percent.
Jacobson's nieces and nephew gave DNA samples during an event several years ago. Silsbee wants to see this through for her grandparents — her grandmother, in particular — who had Bert's name etched between theirs on a gravestone back in Illinois.
"As she didn't have closure and didn't know where he was, we would like to have that," Silsbee says, sitting beneath a color print of the Oklahoma in its pre-attack glory. "Because we remember all those years of her being so unhappy on Dec. 7th, and how this perhaps would bring that closure to all of us."
If their uncle's remains are identified, they would like to see him moved to Arlington National Cemetery.
Of the roughly 60,000 people who survived the attack, only around 2,000 are estimated to still be alive. Chet Jankowski is one of them.
At 93, the Swansea, Illinois, man has difficulty remembering his old buddy, Bert Jacobson. "I had a lot of friends that lost their life," the old sailor said during a recent interview, his voice barely audible.
Reflecting on those lost friends, his shipmate and fellow survivor Harold Johnson has doubts about trying again to identify those who have rested at the Punchbowl for more than seven decades now. He thinks that's where they should remain.
"They were all together, and they died together," he says. "And I think they should be buried together."
© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
19 Comments
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Kabukilover
The horror is invariably worse than you think: "Other survivors’ tapping on the hull could be heard for more than two weeks, but they could not be reached." Rub this in Abe's and the ultra-nationalists' faces.
itsonlyrocknroll
I sincerely hope these harrowing recitements of bravery can with the aid of 21st century DNA technological advancement bring closure for all the families concerned.
Bossu
All this and everything that followed, just so Tojo could continue chasing Chiang Kai Shek in China.
Frungy
Have you ever paused to consider why 100 ships were in Pearl Habour? That was about half the U.S. Naval force all massed at the port closest to Japan.
Roosevelt himself went on record in 1940 saying, "...affairs had reached such a state that the United States would become involved in a war with Japan...".
The bottom line is that the U.S. had massed half their fleet in Pearl Habour as a clear prelude to war against Japan.
And yes, it was cowardly of the Japanese to launch a sneak attack, but it is also incredibly dishonest of the U.S. to claim that they in no way provoked the attack. The intention of the U.S. to engage in war against Japan was clear to even the blindest observer.
MarkG
is closure necessary? During the war their were tens of thousands of mock graves for fallen soldiers throughout the world. Shall we bring closure and return them home to all? Even 35 years ago in Vietnam the MIA families don't have closure and their families are likely very much alive. At nearly 73 years after Pearl Harbor and the well documented events "closure" is clear. KIA. Honor for their loss has been recognized over the last seven decades as they deserve.
jeff198527
Pearl Harbor wasn't cowardly, Frungy. Japan just couldn't just sit back and let itself be attacked. Ww2 is now irrelevant. Both Japan and Germany now outrank the U.S. in many key factors, and America's empire seems to be winding down.
wtfjapan
and America's empire seems to be winding down.** well same could be said for Japan, biggest difference is America population is growing and the have the military might to continue to project its will almost anywhere it want. cant do that with money alone
Kabukilover
Here is the most disquieting sentence in the whole article: " Other survivors’ tapping on the hull could be heard for more than two weeks, but they could not be reached." Can you imagine what it was like to suffer so horribly for 14 days before death? This is the kind of epiphany that does not let you sleep at night. I imagine not a few Japanese sailors suffered the same fates. War is is ugly and messy. This is why it is so hard to find closure even after 70 years. Let the DoD exhume the Oklahoma remains and study them. At least it will do no harm.
jeff198527
Japan is still the world's biggest creditor 24-years running. 32 of America's states are now insolvent.
Frungy
With all due respect I disagree. The conventions of war at that time required a declaration of war BEFORE an attack. To that extent it was cowardly to attack without observing the conventions.
However the U.S. didn't declare war in Iraq, or Pakistan, and this is a pattern of cowardice that stretches back a long way, for example the Vietnamese War was never declared either.
So I really guess that leaves those whining about the attack on Pearl Habour in a difficult position. If they continue whining about how cowardly and unfair it was to attack without declaring war then they have to come face-to-face with the fact that Japan did it ONCE, but the U.S. has been a coward for nearly half a century over half a dozen "wars".
tinawatanabe
Japan did that, but the declaration reached US afterwards.
smithinjapan
"And this renewed effort has spawned a debate over how best to honor their sacrifice and, in effect, whether these men belong to the families or to the nation."
I don't see how there is any debate at all -- the remains belong to the families, plain and simple. The men and women gave their lives for their nation; it doesn't mean their remains are owned by them. If the people object, their objections should be noted, and if in the majority respected. I don't see what harm this does, but if that's their wishes then so be it.
Frungy: "So I really guess that leaves those whining about the attack on Pearl Habour in a difficult position. If they continue whining about how cowardly and unfair it was to attack without declaring war then they have to come face-to-face with the fact that Japan did it ONCE, but the U.S. has been a coward for nearly half a century over half a dozen "wars"."
I don't think you're going to find many people who have problems with that at all. Japan was cowardly, without a doubt. The US has been likewise, save that they openly declared they were going to attack after ramming it through Congress. All war is cowardly. The thing is, people who think the troops should all still line up and agree when to fire on each other in an open field (with only combatants) like the days of colonial wars between England and France or with the American Revolution are just being foolish, regardless of how 'chivalrous' such battles might be (and they certainly cut down on collateral damage!). Wars just aren't fought like that any more.
KabukiLover: I agree... absolutely heartbreaking to hear about that. It's enough to know that crews were struggling to try and get living sailors out of the ships while they were sinking, and then the sailors drowned, is one thing... to know many lived helplessly for another two weeks is indeed the stuff that keeps you up at nights.
nath
@Bossu
All this and everything that followed, just so the USA could continue expanding its economic interests in Asia.
I've never really understood how the American people are still so suckered by the Pearl Harbor story. It's on a par with a cult belief ... it's bizarre how it's become so deeply ingrained as part of the national myth when most academics and the rest of the world has long accepted it was just a deliberate ploy in order to get the people behind the war machine.
jeff198527
wtfjapan, yep America is mighty and invincible. That's why we lost in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. What good is a massive military at the expense of our own people?
Christopher Glen
Lost in Korea? Hardly. That one was a draw, and Britain and Australia joined in as well. Vietnam was "lost" because of media efficiency and public opinion. As for the massive military, another story
nandakandamanda
This article here must be aimed at making the Japanese feel guilty. A Japanese friend who visited the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor told me what he felt on observing an oil globule rising to the surface: that it was an accusation against his people.
OssanAmerica
Is it not an established fact that a declaration of war issued and was to be handed to the Sec of State prior to the attack commencement time? But the Japanese embassy was delayed in decoding and translating it? In other words Imperial Japan did make an attempt to comply with international conventions. I've heard some express their view that the "delay" was deliberate, those sneaky Japs, LOL. But frankly, if the declaration was to be handed to the US and the attack to occur one hour later, there's no need to deliberately "delay" anything. We got caught wih our pants down big time. (ala 911), so far down that some say that's what seems almost deliberate.
praack
closure is nice - if we have the means and there is still dna in the bones we should try. families need peace.
as for the war- let it go, the propaganda from that time leads you to believe the US would have conducted things differently, Perhaps- but i imagine we would have our ships and planes off their shores just waiting for the message which would have been communicated in the US to the embassy.
then we would have moved in
not really any warning with that scenario- not much of a moral high ground. bur war is war
nandakandamanda
With the shoe on the other foot, the US would have called it "a pre-emptive strike".