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After decades of resting in anonymity, new light is now being shed on the identities of the battleshipÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s unknowns, thanks to advances in technology and an enduring commitment to identify the remains of American servicemen.

Since 2017, 13 of the USS West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 35 unknowns have been identified and sent home for burial. The most recent returnee was Fireman 2nd Class William Paul Kubinec, who was laid to rest on Friday in the Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo, California.

Kubinec, 21 at the time of his death, grew up in the east-central Ohio town of Garrettsville and enlisted in the Navy in Cleveland in September of 1940. Immediately after completing basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois, he was assigned to serve on the USS West Virginia, which had recently been reassigned to Pearl Harbor as its home port.

KubinecÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s family moved to the Redding, California, area after the war.

Family reference DNA key to identification

KubinecÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s journey home began in June 2017, when the began disinterring the remains of the 35 USS West Virginia ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œassociated unknownsÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� from the Hawaiian cemetery in which they rested for more than 70 years and applying new forensic technology in an effort to identify them.

The decision to exhume and examine the USS West Virginia unknownsÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ remains followed the successful completion of the DPAAÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s , in which the remains of 361 of the 394 unaccounted-for sailors and Marines who died aboard that battleship in the Pearl Harbor attack were successfully identified. The Oklahoma, which had been moored directly in front of the West Virginia, lost a total of 429 crewmen in the attack.

From 2003 to 2015, the remains of the Oklahoma unknowns were exhumed from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and family reference DNA samples were collected from relatives of every missing individual for comparison with samples collected from the remains. By November 2015, all of the unidentified remains had been transferred to DPAA laboratories at either Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, or Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and then on to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

During the following year, nearly 13,000 bones were inventoried and catalogued, with DNA samples collected from nearly 5,000 of them, according to the DPAA.

At the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, scientists extracted DNA from bone and tooth samples submitted by DPAA personnel, determined the DNA sequence for each sample, and compared that sequence information with family reference cheek swab DNA samples submitted by relatives of the missing crew members.

By October 2021, 361 of the OklahomaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 394 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œunknownÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� crewmen had been identified.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œGiven the success of the USS Oklahoma Project, DPAA has expanded its work to three other battleships involved in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” the USS West Virginia, the USS California and USS Utah,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� said Laurel Freas, project lead for the DPAAÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Pearl Harbor Ships Project.

The identification of 13 of the USS West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 35 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œassociated unknownsÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� leaves the remains of 22 other shipmates in that category still unidentified. Twenty-five other members of the crew are listed as ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œunresolved casualties,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� meaning that they are known to have died during the Pearl Harbor attack, but none of their remains have ever been recovered for possible identification.

The attack on Pearl Harbor

The West Virginia and the Oklahoma are believed to be the first of the seven battleships moored at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, to be struck by Japanese torpedoes.

According to an by the National World War II Museum, two torpedoes simultaneously struck the West Virginia at 7:55 a.m., punching holes in the battleshipÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s port hull below the waterline, causing it to list. At least five more torpedoes and two armor-piercing bombs struck the ship before the attack was over. A huge explosion on the USS Arizona, berthed a short distance away, sent large chunks of steel raining down on the West Virginia, causing one of the shipÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s spotter planes to break free from its moorings atop the main turrets and catch fire.

As more fires broke out and sections of the West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s superstructure began to collapse, ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œall hands not severely wounded were at work, fighting fires, manning guns, or assisting with damage control,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� according to the museumÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s narrative. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œUp in the bridge, the shipÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s commanding officer, Capt. Mervyn S. Bennion, had been mortally wounded in the abdomen by an explosion.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

Meanwhile, below the West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s main decks, Mess Attendant 2nd Class Doris ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œDorieÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Miller was busy pulling wounded sailors through oil and water to upper decks that temporarily remained dry. When that task was complete, Miller heeded a call from an officer in the bridge to help him carry Bennion to a safer position. Miller then manned a .50 caliber machine gun, on which he had received no training, and began firing at attacking Japanese warplanes, downing at least one. He was one of the last three sailors to leave the West Virginia after the crew was ordered to abandon ship.

For his actions during the attack, Miller became the first Black sailor to be awarded the Navy Cross. He died three years later, when the escort carrier to which he was reassigned was torpedoed and exploded.

The West Virginia sank in 40 feet of water, leaving much of its superstructure above the surface. After holes from torpedo hits were patched and the vessel was pumped dry of the 800,000 gallons of fuel oil remaining onboard, the battleship was refloated in May 1942. One year later, the ship steamed its way to the Bremerton Navy Yard in Washington for final repairs and upgrades, returning to combat duty in the Pacific in October 1944.

On Oct. 25, 1944, West Virginia took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait, which marked the last time in history that battleships engaged other battleships with artillery fire and ended with a U.S. victory. Later, the West Virginia provided artillery support for American troops landing at the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and was anchored in Tokyo Bay in September 1945 during JapanÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s formal surrender to the Allies.

The battleship was decommissioned in 1947 and mothballed for 12 years before being sold for scrap in 1959.

A total of 2,403 Americans were killed in the Pearl Harbor attack, including 2,008 Navy personnel, 109 Marines, 218 Army soldiers and airmen and 68 civilians. Japanese losses were 129 killed in action.