The U.S. will use DNA to identify 88 unidentified sailors and Marines buried in Honolulu, starting in November or December.

The U.S. military will exhume 88 unidentified sailors and Marines buried in Honolulu’s National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, using advanced DNA technology to identify them, with exhumations set to begin in November or December. The effort, led by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, involves comparing DNA from remains with samples from family members, part of a broader initiative that has already identified dozens of Pearl Harbor victims. Only those buried in the cemetery will be exhumed, as over 900 crew members remain entombed in the sunken USS Arizona. Nearly 60% of the families of the missing have provided DNA samples, with few declining participation. The remains will be processed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and analyzed at Dover Air Force Base. The project, years in the making, aims to bring closure to families affected by generations of unresolved grief.