THOMPSON; CHARLES W.
UNITED STATES NAVY
WORLD WAR II
State MO
Individual Type Accounted For
Rank F1c
Service Number 3372637
Location Hawaiian Islands
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit USS Oklahoma; UNITED STATES NAVY

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XgCKEA0

On November 28, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Fireman First Class Charles William Thompson, missing from World War II.

Fireman First Class Thompson joined the U.S. Navy from Missouri 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 afterwards, meaning they were part of the group of remains interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. However, modern forensic techniques were able to separate and identify F1c Thompson's remains from the unknowns buried there.

Fireman First Class Thompson is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1090027/uss-oklahoma-sailor-from-world-war-ii-identified-thompson-cw/

News | Feb. 22, 2017

USS Oklahoma Sailor from World War II Identified (Thompson, C.W.)

Remains of Navy Fireman 1st Class Charles W. Thompson, killed in the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II, have now been identified.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Thompson was assigned to the 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 Thompson. No single vessel at Pearl Harbor, with the exception of the USS Arizona, suffered as many fatalities.

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 Thompson.

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.

DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains.

Interment services are pending.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/Article/1210738/uss-oklahoma-sailor-killed-in-world-war-ii-accounted-for-thompson-cw/

Press Release | June 9, 2017

USS Oklahoma Sailor Killed in World War II Accounted For (Thompson, C.W.)

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman from World War II have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Navy Fireman 1st Class Charles W. Thompson, 19, of Weaubleau, Missouri, will be buried June 17 in his hometown. On Dec. 7, 1941, Thompson was assigned to the 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 Thompson.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the 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 identities of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unknowns 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 Thompson.

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 Thompson’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which matched two nephews and a niece, as well as circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 73,057 service members still unaccounted for from World War II.

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.

Charles W Thompson