Remains of California Navy sailor killed in Pearl Harbor attack identified

The remains of a Navy sailor who was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II has been identified, the Defense Department reported Thursday. 

Navy Fire Controlman 2nd Class Lawrence J. Overley was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor when Japanese forces attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a news release. 

According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, the crew "did everything they could to fight back." 

The ship ultimately capsized after being hit by multiple torpedoes, killing 429 people on board, including Overley, the DPAA said. The Los Angeles native was just 21 years old at the time.

In 1947, the Navy disinterred the unidentified remains of the Oklahoma crewmen killed in the attack from two cemeteries in Hawaii, and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks for identification, the DPAA said. The laboratory was able to identify 35 of them. The 46 who were unidentified were buried in plots at Honolulu's National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, which is also called the Punchbowl, and classified in 1949 as "non-recoverable." 

In another attempt to identify the victims, the DPAA in 2015 exhumed the unidentified remains of the Oklahoma
crew from the Punchbowl. In July 2021, the agency was able to use dental, anthropological and DNA analysis to identify Overley, the DPAA said.

Overley's name is listed on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, alongside the names of other missing servicemembers. To indicate he was identified, a rosette will be added next to his name, the DPAA said. 

Overly will be buried in the Punchbowl on March 27, the agency said.

In:
• Pearl Harbor
• Hawaii
• U.S. Army

Simrin Singh

Simrin Singh is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.