Jesus Francisco Garcia was a United States Navy sailor who was killed on the USS Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His remains were identified on September 25, 2018.
Background[]
Jesus Francisco Garcia was born in 1920 at Hagåtña, Guam to Ana Francisco and Antonio Garcia. The family, which included ten children, were part of the native Chamorro (CHamoru) community and lived at Barrigada. At some point in his life, Jesus joined the United States Navy and was eventually assigned as a Navy Steward’s Mate, 2nd Class, to the USS Oklahoma.
Pearl Harbor Attack[]
At about 7:48 AM on December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service conducted a surprise military strike against the United States at the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The USS Oklahoma was one of the first ships to be attacked. The ship was torpedoed and was capsized, killing Jesus in the process. His remains were located between 1941 and 1944, but not identified. As a result, he was considered missing in action while his remains were buried in the Punchbowl at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Overall, 2,335 Americans were killed in the attack, 429, including Jesus, were on the USS Oklahoma. The surprise attack led to US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to declare December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". The following day, the US Congress declared war on Japan which led to the United States' formal entry into World War II.
Aftermath[]
After his death, Jesus was awarded the Purple Heart. He was memorialized on the USS Oklahoma Memorial and the Honolulu Memorial of the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu.
In September of 1947, the American Graves Registration Service was tasked to identify unknown soldier's remains from the Pacific Theatre. However, they were only able to identify 35 of the crewmen from the USS Oklahoma. In October of 1949, the American Graves Registration Service ruled Jesus, along with many servicemen whose remains were not identified, as unrecoverable.
Identification[]
In 2015, the Department of Defense and the Defense POW/MIA accounting agency initiated a program to exhume the unidentified sailors of the USS Oklahoma to try and match their DNA against the DNA of family members whose loved ones were never identified. Scientists at the DPAA used anthropological analysis and scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y-chromosome (Y-STR) analysis to identify the servicemen.
Through these methods, Jesus Francisco Garcia was identified on September 25, 2018. On October 6, 2021, he was buried with full military honors at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.
Gum Daily Post (September 8, 2021)