Burial Ceremony Scheduled for Minnesotan Killed at Pearl Harbor
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota sailor killed at Pearl Harbor will be buried with full military honors Saturday at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
Twenty-two-year-old Navy Radioman 2nd Class Quentin Gifford of Mankato was killed in the Japanese aircraft attack on the battleship USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941.
The Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits and quickly capsized. More than 420 crew members were killed, including Gifford.
His remains eventually were buried along with other unidentified remains from the Oklahoma at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. Hundreds of those remains were dug up nearly three years ago for analysis.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says DNA analysis was used to help identify Gifford's remains last July.