NASH; PAUL ANDREWS.
UNITED STATES NAVY
WORLD WAR II
IN
Individual Type Accounted For
Rank FCM1
Service Number 2914062
Location Hawaiian Islands
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit USS Oklahoma; UNITED STATES NAVY

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000014EFE5EAO

On April 5, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Fire Controlman First Class Paul Andrews Nash, missing from World War II.

Fire Controlman First Class Nash, who joined the U.S. Navy from Indiana, served on the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and was aboard the ship during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. He was killed in the attack, and while his remains were recovered from the ship after the incident, they could not be identified at the time. FC1 Nash was initially interred as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2015, modern forensic techniques prompted the reexamination and identification of FC1 Nash's remains.

Fire Controlman First Class Nash is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/Article/821260/uss-oklahoma-sailor-from-world-war-ii-accounted-for-nash/

Press Release | June 30, 2016

USS Oklahoma Sailor From World War II Accounted For (Nash)

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman from World War II have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Navy Fire Controlman 1st Class Paul A. Nash, 26, of Carlisle, Indiana, will be buried July 9 in Sullivan, Indiana. On Dec. 7, 1941, Nash 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 Nash.

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 Nash.

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.

To identify Nash’s remains, scientists from DPAA and AFDIL used mitochondrial DNA, which matched a niece; as well as circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons, which matched Nash’s records.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to

account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit

the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or call (703) 699-1420.