HOLYOKE, MASS. (WHDH) – A serviceman from Holyoke will be laid to rest on Saturday, more than 80 years after his death in the attack on Pearl Harbor, officials announced.
Gov. Maura Healey’s office in a statement said Petty Officer Merle Chester Joseph Hillman was killed in action during the attack. With the state now set to honor Hillman, Healey has ordered all US and Massachusetts flags be lowered to half-staff on Saturday.
Unidentified for decades, officials with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Hillman’s remains were exhumed in 2018 and identified using DNA analysis in October of last year.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Hillman’s identification earlier this month as part of larger, ongoing efforts to identify the remains of servicemen who died at Pearl Harbor.
In the case of Hillman, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said he was 25-years-old and serving aboard the USS California when the ship came under attack.
The USS California caught fire and flooded after suffering multiple torpedo and bomb hits. A total of 104 crewmen died.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said 81 casualties from the USS California were identified either immediately after the attack or in a subsequent effort in 1947. The bodies of the other servicemen, including Hillman, were deemed “non-recoverable” and buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, where they remained until 2018.
Beyond Hillman, recent efforts by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency have helped identify the remains of other Massachusetts servicemen, including those of Army Cpl. Joseph J. Puopolo, who went missing during the Korean War.
The agency similarly identified Army Pvt. Wing Hom of Boston in April of last year after he went missing in action in Italy during World War II.
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