Navy Chief Petty Officer Albert Hayden comes home

Back in January, Hondo told us that the remains of Navy Chief Petty Officer Albert Hayden, from the crew of the USS OKLAHOMA who was lost on December 7th, 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor, were identified by the DPAA. Now we get the news that he will finally come home next week;

Navy Chief Petty Officer Albert E. Hayden, 44, of Mechanicsville, Maryland, will be buried May 18 in Morganza, Maryland. On Dec. 7, 1941, Hayden was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in 429 casualties, including Hayden.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Hayden.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the NMCP for analysis.

Survivors of Hayden’s family will be on hand for his final rest. His father, James died in 1917 and his mother, Emma, passed in 1955.

Thanks to OC for the tip.

Category: We Remember