How remains of personnel killed in Pearl Harbor are identified decades later
6 April 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Kansas sailor who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 80 years ago has finally been identified and will be laid to rest.
Navy Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class Cecil E. Barncord was from Wilson Township in Ellsworth County.
On Dec. 7, 1941, the 24-year-old was on the USS Oklahoma when Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor. The battleship capsized. Barncord was one of the 429 crewmembers who died.
Navy personnel spent two and a half years recovering the crew’s remains. The remains were first interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In 1947, the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) was given the job of identifying those who died. It transferred the remains to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. But staff members could only confirm 35 names from the USS Oklahoma. The rest were buried in plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl.
With advances in forensic science over the next 60 years, officials began to wonder if the remains could be identified. In 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) exhumed the unidentified sailors for analysis.
DPAA scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. They have slowly been identifying sailors, including Barncord.
DPAA said he was identified in 2016, but his family only recently received the full briefing on his identification.
Barncord’s name is still listed on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl. However, now that he has been identified, a rosette will be placed next to his name.
Barncord will be buried on a date yet to be determined in Mossy Rock, Washington.