GAVER; HARRY HAMILTON
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
WORLD WAR II
CA
Individual Type Accounted For
Rank 2dLt
Service Number 0- 6254
Location Hawaiian Islands
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit MARINE - UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XhCSEA0

On December 5, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Second Lieutenant Harry Hamilton Gaver Jr., missing from World War II.

Second Lieutenant Gaver entered the U.S. Marine Corps from California and served aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37). He was aboard the ship at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when it came under attack by Japanese aircraft and was one of the men killed when it capsized after being torpedoed. His remains could not be identified among those recovered from the ship afterward, meaning they were part of the group of remains interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Eventually, modern forensic techniques were able to separate and identify 2ndLt Gaver's remains from the unknowns buried there.

Second Lieutenant Gaver is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/Article/1695412/uss-oklahoma-marine-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-gaver-h/

Press Release | Nov. 20, 2018

USS Oklahoma Marine Accounted For From World War II (Gaver, H.)

WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted for from World War II, are those of Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Harry H. Gaver, Jr., 24, of Annapolis, Maryland. Gaver was accounted for Jan. 26, 2017.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Gaver 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 Gaver.

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 Gaver.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the NMCP for analysis.

To identify Gaver’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), dental analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,778 (approximately 26,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted for from World War II. Gaver'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.

For family contact information, contact the Marine Corps Casualty Office at (800) 847-1597.

Gaver will be buried July 24, 2019, in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.

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 call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Gaver’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XhCSEA0

Harry H Gaver, Jr