To the calm, Mother Earth's
Waiting breast;
Duty done, Like the sun:
Going West.
GOD BLESS YOU
AND WELCOME HOME
Posted on 07/20/2007 2:58:32 PM PDT by Dubya
Missing WWII Sailor is Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is Fireman 3rd Class Alfred E. Livingston, U.S. Navy, of Worthington, Ind. He will be buried on Saturday in Worthington.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Livingston was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma when it was attacked by Japanese torpedo aircraft and capsized in Pearl Harbor. The ship sustained massive casualties. Livingston was one of hundreds declared killed in action whose body was not recovered. In the aftermath of the attack, some remains were recovered from the waters of Pearl Harbor. One set of sailor’s remains was recovered and thought to be associated with the USS Arizona losses. However, when efforts to identify the sailor failed, it was inconclusive what ship he was assigned to and he was buried as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as The Punchbowl.
In 2006, a Pearl Harbor survivor and researcher, contacted the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and suggested that the biological and dental information on file for the unknown sailor may be correlated with Livingston’s personnel file. JPAC’s analysts studied the documentation and found enough evidence to support the researcher’s findings that Livingston was actually recovered after the war even though he was originally listed as one of the hundreds of unrecoverable servicemen from the attack on Pearl Harbor. In February 2007, the grave for the unknown sailor was exhumed.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of Livingston’s remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ or call (703) 699-1420.
Prayers a-coming. I’m glad they ID’d him.
“I consider it no sacrifice to die for my country. In my mind, we came here to thank God that men like these have lived rather than to regret that they have died.”
General George S. Patton
Welcome Home Sailor.
God bless Alfred Livingston and all our other heroes, living and departed.
Prayer for the US Navy
O eternal Lord, God, you alone spread out the heavens and rule the raging sea. Take into your most gracious arms Fireman 3rd Class Alfred E. Livingston, U.S. Navy, who served to protect this nation. Comfort his family as they grieve again his passing. In serving you, O Lord, Fireman 3rd Class Alfred E. Livingston, U.S. Navy, served this country; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Prayers, indeed...
Thank you for serving, Sir....
Requiesat In Pacem.
Perhaps one day the government might finally get around to telling us how many men that were trapped in the capsized Oklahoma were bundled off to insane asylums, so traumatized by their ordeal of being trapped inside the hull, some for as much as two weeks.
I sincerely hope this man did not suffer on that fateful day, and I hope his family, finally, has a sense of peace.
Prayers up... RIP.
RIP Fireman 3rd Class Alfred E. Livingston
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