DPAA Meets Threshold to Exhume and Identify 141 Unknowns from 1941 Pearl Harbor Attack

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced on April 23, 2026, that families of USS Arizona crew members have submitted enough genetic reference samples to meet a 60% collection threshold, paving the way for exhumations and potential identifications of 141 unidentified service members killed during Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.

Department of War policy mandates a 60% level of family reference samples before the agency can exhume unknown remains for identification, according to Stars and Stripes. The remains of these 141 unknowns are buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, with 88 connected to the USS Arizona and 52 carrying no confirmed ship connections.

The DPAA plans to begin exhumations of the unknowns tied to the USS Arizona in November or December eight at a time every two to three weeks. For the December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor unknowns, 643 family reference samples were needed, Stars and Stripes reported. Virginia real estate agent Kevin Kline, the grandnephew of Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Robert Kline, launched Operation 85 in 2023.

Kline and his team used roughly $75,000, most from his own pocket, to locate most of the 643 families, according to Stars and Stripes. He stepped in after a 2022 Navy report to Congress disclosed the government possessed family reference samples for only 25 unknowns and projected an approximately 10-year, $2.7 million timeline to gather the rest.

Previously, officials said online in 2021 that pursuing identifications did not make “pragmatic sense,” Military Times reported. The Navy had similarly signaled no intention to act, the DPAA’s deputy director, Rear Adm. Darias Banaji, said. The Pentagon granted the ability to disinter groups of unknown military personnel if it’s anticipated to identify at least 60% in 2015, according to the outlet.

Researchers could potentially put names to the 141 unidentified service members after this key milestone. DPAA said the search for additional family DNA contributors for Arizona and Pearl Harbor continues.