Olaf A. Johnson from Houston County Minnesota.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Died of wounds
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Lester H. Libolt, age 21, from Rock County Nebraska.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: On June 11, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Lester H. Libolt, missing from World War II. Libolt entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Nebraska and served in the 431st Bombardment Squadron, 11th Bombardment Group at Hickam Airfield on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, during World War II. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese military forces conducted a surprise attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as well as surrounding U.S. military installations, including Hickam Field and Schofield Army Barracks. While U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was Japan’s primary target, enemy planes also had orders to attack the airfields on Oahu. Japanese dive bombers and fighters attacked Hickam Field, then turned on the base facilities, destroying the Hawaiian Air Depot’s engineering building and hangers, attempting to take out the underground fuel tanks, and attacking the barracks. Fighter planes also made strafing attacks on personnel caught out in the open. The attack lasted four hours, and 91 men died at Hickam Field that day, including Libolt. In the days following the attack, Navy personnel recovered the remains of U.S. Army and U.S. Army Air Forces casualties, which were subsequently interred in the Schofield Barracks Cemetery. In August 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel from World War II, members of the American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the Schofield Cemetery and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was unable to confirm the identifications of 12 men from the Hickam Field attack at that time, and the unidentified remains were subsequently buried as Unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In June 2019, DPAA personnel began exhuming the 12 Schofield Barracks Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis, including one set of remains disinterred in 2020, which was transferred to a DPAA Laboratory for further study. There, based on the laboratory analysis, and total circumstantial evidence, the remains were identified as those of Libolt.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Lincoln Evening Journal (1945)
John H. Mann, age 22, from Chautauqua County Stow, New York .
Parents: Emma Mann
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: On December 19, 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sgt. John Henry Mann missing from World War II. Mann entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from New York and served in the 22nd Material Squadron, 17th Air Base Group. On December 7, 1941, Japanese military forces conducted a surprise attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as well as surrounding U.S. military installations, including Hickam Field and Schofield Army Barracks. While the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was Japan’s primary target, enemy planes also had orders to attack the airfields on Oahu. Located next to Pearl Harbor, Hickam Field was in the direct path of Japanese planes. Japanese dive bombers and fighters attacked Hickam Field, destroying planes there. They then turned on the base facilities. The Japanese destroyed the Hawaiian Air Depot’s engineering building and hangers at Hickam Field, attempted to take out the underground fuel tanks, and attacked the barracks. Fighter planes also made strafing attacks on personnel caught out in the open. In the meantime, the men at Hickam cobbled together a makeshift ground defense: men broke into weapons lockers and retrieved machine guns and Springfield rifles and began firing at low-flying planes. Some climbed into planes and began firing their machine guns from the ground. Others tried to get planes into the air but by then though, the attack was over. Ninety-one men died at Hickam Field that day. Mann was killed during the attack on Hickam Field, but the exact circumstances of his loss are unknown, and his remains could not be identified at the time. Unidentified remains of personnel killed during the attack were eventually buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP). In 2020, DPAA personnel, in cooperation with cemetery officials, exhumed unknown remains believed to be associated with Hickam Field losses from the NMCP and transferred the remains to the DPAA Laboratory for further study. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available allowed the identification of Mann from among those remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Buffalo News (1941)
Herbert E. McLaughlin, age 31, from Shawano County Shawano, Wisconsin .
Parents: Mary McLaughlin
Service era: World War II
Schools: Shawano High (1928), Saint Louis Medical school
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: On December 17, 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Pvt. Herbert E. McLaughlin, missing from World War II. McLaughlin entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Wisconsin and served in the Headquarters Squadron, 17th Air Base Group. On December 7, 1941, Japanese military forces conducted a surprise attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as well as surrounding U.S. military installations, including Hickam Field and Schofield Army Barracks. While the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was Japan’s primary target, enemy planes also had orders to attack the airfields on Oahu. Located next to Pearl Harbor, Hickam Field was in the direct path of Japanese planes. Japanese dive bombers and fighters attacked Hickam Field, destroying planes there. They then turned on the base facilities. The Japanese destroyed the Hawaiian Air Depot’s engineering building and hangers at Hickam Field, attempted to take out the underground fuel tanks, and attacked the barracks. Fighter planes also made strafing attacks on personnel caught out in the open. In the meantime, the men at Hickam cobbled together a makeshift ground defense: men broke into weapons lockers and retrieved machine guns and Springfield rifles and began firing at low-flying planes. Some climbed into planes and began firing their machine guns from the ground. Others tried to get planes into the air. By then though, the attack was over. Ninety-one men died at Hickam Field that day. McLaughlin was killed during the attack on Hickam Field, but the exact circumstances of his loss are unknown, and his remains could not be identified at the time. Unidentified remains of personnel killed during the attack were eventually buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP). In 2020, DPAA personnel, in cooperation with cemetery officials, exhumed unknown remains believed to be associated with Hickam Field losses from the NMCP and transferred the remains to the DPAA Laboratory for further study. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available allowed the identification of McLaughlin from among those remains.
Source: National Archives, Green Bay Post Gazette (1941)
Donald F. Meagher, age 20, from Cascade County Great Falls, Montana .
Parents: Francis L. Meagher
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed at Pearl Habor
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, The Independent (1942)
Herman Kotzschmar Jr. Tibbetts, age 35, from York County Maine.
Parents: H. K. Tibbetts
Service era: World War II
Schools: Graduate of Limerick and Thornton Academies
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed at Hickam Field, Pearl Harbor.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Portland Press Herald (1941)