DOERNENBURG; KENNETH E
UNITED STATES NAVY
WORLD WAR II
WI
Individual Type Accounted For
Rank F1c
Service Number 3000328
Location Hawaiian Islands
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit USS Oklahoma; UNITED STATES NAVY

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XeL4EAK

On March 25, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of Fireman First Class Kenneth E. Doernenburg, missing from World War II.

Fireman First Class Doernenburg entered the U.S. Navy from Wisconsin. He was a crew member aboard the USS Oklahoma on December7, 1941, when the ship came under attack from Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Oklahoma capsized in the attack, and F1c Doernenburg was killed in the incident. His remains were eventually recovered from the ship, but they could not be identified at the time. F1c Doernenburg's remains were buried as unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2015, the DPAA received authorization to exhume and reexamine unknown remains associated with the Oklahoma using advances in forensic techniques. F1c Doernenburg's remains were disinterred and identified as part of this effort.

Fireman First Class Doernenburg is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/2579889/uss-oklahoma-sailor-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-doernenburg-k/

Press Release | July 23, 2021

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Doernenburg, K.)

WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Fireman 1st Class Kenneth E. Doernenburg, 23, of Antigo, Wisconsin, killed during World War II, was accounted for on March 25, 2021.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Doernenburg was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Doernenburg.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Doernenburg.

Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.

To identify Doernenburg’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Doernenburg’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Doernenburg will be buried on Sept. 25, 2021, in his hometown.

For family and funeral information, contact the Navy Service Casualty office at (800) 443-9298.

DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of the Navy for their partnership in this mission.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at

www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Doernenburg’s personnel profile can be viewed at

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XeL4EAK

Kenneth E Doernenburg