Remains of NJ man killed at Pearl Harbor are finally identified

Kaitlyn Kanzler | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption D-Day veterans speak of their experience 75 years later Two vets from Brick, NJ, who were at Normandy during the D-Day landing in World War II, look back at their experiences. Interview by Mike Kelly.

There are few World War II veterans left in this world, and fewer still who might recall Francis Day.

Even in his hometown of Millburn, memories of him have faded. He was a graduate of Washington School and Millburn High School and had five siblings. That much is known.

But 78 years after he died in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Francis Day's remains have been identified, part of a broader effort by the Navy to put names to the remains of crew members killed in the sinking of the USS Oklahoma and buried in a mass grave.

Only 35 of the 429 men killed on the battleship were ever identified in the initial years after it was sunk by multiple torpedo hits during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Day was the chief water tender on the USS Oklahoma, where he tended the fires in the boiler room. He had served in the military since 1925.

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During the Pearl Harbor attack, Day reportedly died a hero's death, helping 15 of his mates escape a flooded compartment through a submerged porthole. He was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

A small notice appeared in a December 1941 edition of The Item of Millburn and Short Hills announcing that Day had been reported missing. His father, William Day, was a township employee, it said, and Day, 37, had a brother and four sisters.

After the attack, the Navy spent three years getting remains of the crew from the capsized ship and burying them in the Halawa and Nu'uanu cemeteries before they were moved to an identification lab in Hawaii in 1947.

Just 35 soldiers were identified, and the rest of the remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, often known as the Punchbowl.

However, in 2015, the POW/MIA agency exhumed Day and the other unidentified USS Oklahoma crewmen from the Punchbowl to make another attempt to identify the men.

"To identify Day's remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis," DPAA said in a statement. "Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis."

Since mitochondrial DNA passes from mother to children unaltered, it can be used to find an exact match with living relatives. It also is easier to work with when samples are very small.

Day's sister made sure to pass on her brother's legacy onto her own children, who in turn passed it on to her children, said James Werner, Day's great-nephew. Werner said his family was heavily involved with getting his great-uncle identified, donating DNA samples and reaching out to the Navy.

Now that he has been identified, Day will be reburied at the Punchbowl at an unknown time. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Jake Dalton, a 93-year-old Millburn resident and World War II veteran, said he has seen many people get identified in the years since Pearl Harbor. He said so many men were listed as missing in action after Pearl Harbor; families never had closure or a body to bury.

He hopes someone in town will recognize Day's name. Dalton also served in the Navy during World War II, in the South Pacific.

Day's name is memorialized in a handwritten book at the Millburn Free Public Library along with the other 1,642 men and women who served in the Armed Forces during World War II. Day was one of the first three men from the town to be killed in the war, which lost a total of 44 young residents.

"In our hearts and minds, his sacrifice has not been forgotten," Werner said.

In June 1944, a Rudderow class destroyer escort ship was named after Day, sponsored by one of his sisters.

The USS Day served through the rest of World War II before being decommissioned in 1946. The ship stayed in a reserve in San Diego until June 1968 and was struck from the Navy Vessel Register. The USS Day was sunk off of San Clemente Island, California in 1969.

Day was just one of over 72,000 Americans unaccounted for after World War II.

Kaitlyn Kanzler covers Essex County for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kanzler@northjersey.com Twitter: @KaitlynKanzler8

This story was updated to include comments from a relative of Francis Day.