http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/Article/967866/uss-oklahoma-sailor-from-world-war-ii-accounted-for-piskuran/

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

Release No: 16-080 Oct. 7, 2016

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 Seaman 2nd Class Rudolph V. Piskuran, 19, of Elyria, Ohio, will be buried Oct. 14 in his hometown. On Dec. 7, 1941, Piskuran 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 the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Piskuran. No single vessel at Pearl Harbor, with the exception of the USS Arizona, suffered as many fatalities.

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 Piskuran.

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 Piskuran’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used Y-Short Tandem Release DNA analysis, which matched a brother and two nephews, as well as circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons, which matched Piskuran’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, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420.

S2c Rudolph V. Piskuran.JPG

PISKURAN; RUDOLPH VICTOR
UNITED STATES NAVY
WORLD WAR II
OH
Individual Type Accounted For
Rank SEA2
Service Number 2834494
Location Hawaiian Islands
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit USS Oklahoma; UNITED STATES NAVY
https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000014EFDWEA4

SEA2 RUDOLPH VICTOR PISKURAN

On January 29, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Seaman Second Class Rudolph Victor Piskuran, missing from World War II.

Seaman Second Class Piskuran, who joined the U.S. Navy from Ohio, 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 following the incident, they could not be identified at the time. SEA2 Piskuran was then buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2015, modern forensic techniques prompted the reexamination and identification of SEA2 Piskuran's remains.

Seaman Second Class Piskuran is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Rudolph V Piskuran