WASHINGTON-The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that

Navy Fireman 2nd Class Carl M. Bradley, 19, of Shelley, Idaho, killed during

World War II, was accounted for on Feb. 5, 2021.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Bradley 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 Bradley.

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 Bradley.

Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma

Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.

To identify Bradley's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and

anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces

Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA

(auSTR) analysis.

Bradley'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.

Bradley will be buried on June 26, 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

Bradley's personnel profile can be viewed at

Carl Merrill Bradley