Remains of seaman killed in Pearl Harbor attack identified

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Defense department authorities say the remains of an Ohio sailor killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawai‘i, have been identified.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Monday that Navy Seaman 2nd Class Stanley C. Galaszewski, 29, of Steubenville, Ohio, was one of 104 crewmen on the battleship USS California killed during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack.

The ship, moored at Ford Island, was attacked by Japanese aircraft and sustained multiple torpedo and bomb hits, which caused it to catch fire and slowly flood. Remains of the deceased crew recovered in the ensuing months were interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu cemeteries.

The remains were later taken to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks, which was only able to confirm the identities of 39 men. Unidentified remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl in Honolulu.

In 2018, the remains of 25 unknown casualties were exhumed and DNA and other evidence was used to identify the remains of Galaszewski, who officials said was accounted for in May.

Galaszewski will be buried Nov. 3 in Steubenville, Ohio. His name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Punchbowl, and a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for, officials said.