By Mark Tanos, Daily Caller News Foundation | October 06, 2025
Military scientists have identified the remains of a Pearl Harbor sailor killed 83 years ago when Japanese forces attacked his battleship in Oahu, Hawaii.
Personnel identified U.S. Navy Fireman 1st Class Edward D. Bowden of New Bern, North Carolina, on April 1, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced in a press release last week. Bowden died aboard the USS California on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese aircraft struck Pearl Harbor and pulled the U.S. formally into World War II.
Multiple torpedoes and bombs struck the battleship, causing fires and flooding. The attack killed approximately 102 members of her crew.
Navy personnel retrieved remains from December 1941 to April 1942 and buried them in two Hawaiian cemeteries, according to the press release. In 1947, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel moved the remains to a laboratory at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. Staff identified 39 sailors from the USS California at the time but could not identify others.
The AGRS interred the unidentified remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. The cemetery is also called the Punchbowl. A military board determined Bowden was non-recoverable in 1949, according to his personnel profile.
DPAA personnel exhumed 25 unknown USS California sailors from the cemetery in 2018. Scientists employed and anthropological and dental analysis along with circumstantial evidence to identify Bowden. Armed Forces Medical Examiner System researchers confirmed the identification through mitochondrial DNA analysis and genome sequencing.
Bowden’s name appears on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl cemetery. Officials will put a rosette next to his name to indicate his recovery.
The Navy will lay Bowden to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 8, 2025.
Mark Tanos is a contributor at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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