More than 80 years ago, a U.S. sailor perished in Pearl Harbor surrounded by the bombs and torpedoes of Japanese fighter planes during one of the most infamous attacks in U.S. history. Now, the fallen sailor has finally been named.
Clarence A. Blaylock was a Navy fireman 3rd class stationed in Pearl Harbor in 1941, Fox News reported. The 20-year-old sailor from Fort Worth, Texas, was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, one of the eight battleships heavily damaged or destroyed in the attack.
“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 Blaylock,” the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said, according to Fox News.
After the attack, the Navy took three years to recover the remains of those who died. Scientists finally identified 35 crew members by 1947, and 46 unidentified sailors were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also called the Punchbowl in Honolulu.
Nearly 70 years later, scientists removed the USS Oklahoma’s unidentified bodies from the cemetery to conduct an anthropological analysis to try to identify the sailors. Officials announced Wednesday that Blaylock was identified in July 2019 and will be buried at the Punchbowl on November 9 of this year.
The DPAA also announced Wednesday that Blaylock’s fellow crewman, Navy Seaman 1st Class Houston Temples, 24, was also identified in April 2021. Temples will be buried on December 7, 2022, the 81st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Another USS Oklahoma sailor, Navy Fire Controlman George Gilbert, 20, was buried Monday at Punchbowl after being identified in August 2020, KITV 4 reported.
“Gilbert was killed in World War II at the age of 20, when he was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma in 1941. The ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft while it was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on Aug. 24, 2020,” the outlet wrote.