San Diego sailor killed at Pearl Harbor finally identified

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Navy sailor killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has been identified after 80 years thanks to advances in DNA and forensic analysis, military officials said

The Department of Defense announced on Thursday that the remains of Navy Storekeeper 1st Class Harry E. Walker were identified last spring, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Walker, a San Diego native, will be buried in California next month, the newspaper said Sunday.

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101-year-old returns to Pearl Harbor to remember those lost

A split-second decision on that December morning 80 years ago changed Navy Seaman 1st Class David Russell's mind, and likely saved his life.

The 36-year-old was assigned to the USS Oklahoma when he died in the Dec. 7, 1941 aerial attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii. More than 400 of the battleship’s crew were killed.

It took several years to recover and bury the remains. The military identified 35 of them in 1947, but new forensic technology became available in 2015 and other remains were tested.

In total, more than 2,300 U.S. troops stationed at Pearl Harbor lost their lives during the attack which led to the United States entry into World War II.

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